Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant and New Orleans Pelicans’ playmaker Anthony Davis, their clubs fighting for playoff spots, have both been sidelined with injuries, team officials announced on Sunday.
Oklahoma City Thunder star Durant underwent a procedure to reduce the pain in his surgically repaired right foot and will be re-evaluated within a week while Davis could miss up to two weeks with a sprained right shoulder.
The Thunder, 30-25 and on a five-game win streak, have overtaken Phoenix to hold the eighth and final Western Conference playoff position with New Orleans only two games behind.
Durant, averaging 25.4 points and 6.6 rebounds a game over 27 games, missed six weeks to start the season following right foot surgery and more time the past two months due to a sprained right ankle and sprained left big toe.
“Kevin has experienced increased soreness in his right foot recently and as a result we initiated a process to determine the best way to manage it,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said.
“In order to alleviate that discomfort, it was determined… that because the fracture itself has continued to heal as anticipated, there was an opportunity to address irritation from the screw and make an adjustment to a different piece of hardware within the foot to relieve the symptoms of his soreness.
“The fracture itself is healing excellently by all accounts and we continue to feel good about the prognosis moving forward.”
Davis re-injured his shoulder in the first quarter of Saturday’s 105-91 victory over Miami when he collided with Heat centre Hassan Whiteside while making a shot. He will be sidelined for at least a week.
Davis missed two games this month with a sprained right shoulder and missed the NBA All-Star Game.
