Alarm in the NBA: Durant, offside

Unfortunately for the Suns: Kevin Durant is injured and is out indefinitely. The setback, which the Arizona team hopes is not serious, occurred in the team’s warm-up prior to the game against the Thunder., tripping and hurting the star on his left ankle. A new nuisance for a player who has not stopped chaining injuries during his career and who will undergo new tests this Thursday to see the extent of the injury. The Suns were 3-0 since the arrival of the former from the Nets, an absolutely generational player who can change the course of a franchise and who was changing that of the Suns … until now. And be careful, at the moment we don’t know when the player will return, but given his history we must be cautious and not rule anything out. Initially, it is a sprain that will mean a loss of between 1 and 2 weeks when it is grade I… and between 3 and 6 if it is grade II.

Durant is averaging 26.7 points, 7.3 rebounds and 3.7 assists in his so-called short tenure with the Suns. His injury didn’t hurt his team against the Thunder, also orphans of their star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and the beating was resounding by the locals: 132-101. Devin Booker went to 44 points after adding 37, 35 and 36 against the Hornets, Bulls and Mavs and extends his sweet moment. All of those games have been wins for the Suns, four in a row, five in the last six games and seven of the last nine. Some results that leave a team that was really in difficulty before the arrival of Durantwith a 37-29 and in fourth place in the Western Conference.

The situation for the Suns is positive as long as Durant’s loss is not indefinite. They are two wins behind the Grizzlies and Kings and have 16 games left to go: the next one, against the Kings in Phoenix, whether Durant is there or not, seems key. And of the remaining 15, duels against Magic (at home), Thunder (double game and both away), Jazz (away) or Spurs (at home) are hypothetical victories that cannot be escaped. Against the Kings they have an assault again on March 25, this time in Sacramento. And the accounts must be improvised, since the swell from the West prevents us from knowing where they are going to fall the Warriors, that annoying rival that from one day to the next can become a favorite and sentence you in the first round or, at the very least, add too much wear on you for a squad that always moves between physical problems (Chris Paul, Durant himself…).

For the Thunder, things are more complicated. West elevenths and out of the play-in. Shai’s absence for five consecutive games between February 24 and March 3 caused the team to add 4 losses; the player came back, OKC won two games and now, in a new low, they lose again. They are only one victory away from the Peelicans, very weak, but they do seem further away from some Lakers with whom, that is true, you never know. And they are ahead of the Blazers and Jazz, two teams that continue to aspire to enter. They now have a key duel against the aforementioned Pelicans and then visit San Antonio in what has to be a victory. On March 25, they visit the Lakers. Anyway: we will see.