The Oklahoma City Thunder super star Kevin Durant will miss 6-8 weeks of NBA basketball after suffering a Jones fracture in his right foot. The team announced the news on Sunday after Durant felt an alarming level of discomfort during their practice on Saturday per SB Nation:
"After practice yesterday, Kevin made us aware of discomfort in his right foot," Thunder GM Sam Presti said in a statement. "We proceeded to perform the necessary imagining [sic.] studies to determine the cause of his discomfort. At this stage, Kevin has been diagnosed with a Jones fracture. Traditional treatment of this injury requires a surgical procedure, and recent NBA cases have resulted in a return to play in 6-8 weeks."
So what is a Jones fracture anyway? USA TODAY Sports talked about the injury with Nick Grosso, a sports medicine surgeon and president of The Centers for Advanced Orthopaedics, one of the largest practices in the country about the injury.
"It's an overuse injury. So it starts with a little bit of soreness until it gets worse and finally they bring it to someone's attention. I see it all the time where people have it start as soreness. They're tough injuries to get better from. ... These guys are used to playing with pain. A little ache in the foot didn't get his attention until it got severe enough. ... In a guy like this, you probably would operate on this no matter when he brought it up."
So a Jones fracture is not an injury that happens instantly but rather one that builds over time. Durant may have felt the soreness before the offseason but opted to play through the pain. Its no surprise that the star forward incurred such an "overuse" type of injury especially after playing heavy minutes while carrying the Thunder's offensive load in the 2013-14 season with Russel Westbrook sidelined for majority of the year.
Does this mean that Durant might have been overworked by the Thunder that's why he suffered the Jones fracture? Its highly possible given the nature of the injury although Scott Brooks would somehwat disagree on such a notion per Royce Young via Hoopshype:
Scott Brooks on if Durant was possibly overworked: "No, I mean, if you look at the total minutes, he's played a lot of games... He hasn't missed many games... We all get paid to play and coach 82 games and I commend him for that."
Now the Thunder are heading into the season without the most potent scorer in the league. The team have depth but no matter who they bring in from that bench, its nowhere close to the kind of impact and production that Durant brings. No matter how Scott Brooks downplays the idea of Durant being overwokred, it will surely be interesting to find out how he and his coaching staff will adjust if Durant's injury lingers in the season.
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