UPDATED 3/1/17, 10:00 a.m. ET:
The Warriors released the results of Kevin Durant's MRI on Wednesday morning. According to a press release put out by the team, Durant suffered an MCL sprain and a tibial bone bruise in his left knee. He will be out indefinitely.
See original story below.
The Warriors suffered a crushing blow on Tuesday night, and it had absolutely nothing to do with their 112-108 loss to the Wizards at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
During the first quarter of the game, Wizards center Marcin Gortat and Warriors center Zaza Pachulia got tied up under the basket, and Pachulia fell backwards and landed awkwardly on Golden State star Kevin Durant's left knee. KD started hopping around in pain immediately, and while he tried to play through whatever pain he was feeling, he was taken out of the game two possessions later. He made his way back to the Warriors’ locker room, and he was eventually diagnosed with a hyperextended left knee.
KD did not return to the game. Instead, he was taken to a local hospital where he underwent an MRI. And although the results of the MRI won't be made public until sometime Wednesday, there are obviously a lot of worried people in the Warriors organization. Yahoo! Sports reporter Adrian Wojnarowski reported that those close to KD fear he could end up missing the remainder of the season due to the injury.
As of late Tuesday night, the Warriors were hoping KD’s injury looked worse than it actually was. Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters that he’s hoping KD just suffered a "bone bruise," while Warriors coach Steve Kerr said he’s taking a wait-and-see approach to the injury.
"I’m always concerned about any injury," Kerr said, "because you never know how bad it’s going to be. So we’ll just wait and see and keep our fingers crossed."
And as of Wednesday morning, The Undefeated reporter Mike Wise reported that Warriors management doesn't believe KD will miss the remainder of the season due to the injury:
But nothing has been made official just yet, so the Warriors players, staff, and fans are left to wait around and wonder what will happen next.
In the meantime, it sounds like the Warriors are already preparing for a worst-case scenario. Prior to KD’s injury, they were planning on signing guard José Calderón to a deal. But they have reportedly decided to change up their plans and sign forward Matt Barnes to a deal for the rest of the season instead.
Barnes—who played for the Warriors from 2006 through 2008—was ecstatic about that news. He shared his immediate thoughts with The Undefeated reporter Marc J. Spears:
Barnes also took to Instagram to talk about how happy he is to be returning to Golden State:
But despite the addition of Barnes, Warriors fans are obviously panicking over how KD’s injury will impact the team moving forward. And to make matters even worse, everyone is reminding them about how ironic it is that they will have to sit and wait for the news about KD’s MRI results on this particular date:
We’re all wishing the best for KD. Stay tuned for updates on his injury.
