Don’t panic, Warriors fans.
The alarms started buzzing on Tuesday night when Golden State visited the Washington Wizards. And it’s not because the Dubs lost 108-112, as Washington deserved the win. The main concern was Kevin Durant’s health.
The star forward left the game during the first quarter with a knee injury and didn’t return. That was obviously a bad sign, but things got even worse on Wednesday. It was revealed that Durant suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain and a tibial bone bruise. If that sounds bad, the recovery news will be even worse.
Durant is now out indefinitively and will be re-evaluated in no less than four weeks.
So basically the Warriors lost their MVP candidate for – probably – the rest of the regular season. After all, Durant’s game took a step forward this year and he became even more important than Steph Curry. The former OKC Thunder star averages 25.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.6 blocks per game, giving him a 27.60 PER. Those are MVP-caliber numbers, and the Warriors will certainly miss that production on both ends of the floor.
However, fans need to put things into perspective here. If we put Durant out of the starting five, Andre Iguodala is likely to replace him. And we’d be talking about a unit of Curry, Klay Thompson, Iguodala, Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia. Pachulia takes Andrew Bogut’s place, but this is esentially the team that won 73 games last year, and fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Finals after blewing a 3-1 lead. Those 73 games are an NBA record, one that’s going to stay there for a long, long time.
So while it’s understandable that Warriors fans are already getting into panic mode due to Durant’s absence, they will be fine. They already clinched a playoff berth, and it would be shocking if they don’t finish the regular season with the best record in the West. Even if Durant misses the playoffs, the Houston Rockets and the San Antonio Spurs appear to be the only threat Golden State have on their route to a third straight Finals appearance.
And who knows? Maybe Durant gets back just in time for the playoffs. But even without him, the Warriors have everything to succeed. They have a deep roster and capable replacements on the bench. And if Iguodala moves to the starting unit, then Golden State will sign Matt Barnes to boost their bench.
With or without Durant, the Warriors remain an elite team. And they should be title contenders for the reminder of the campaign with relative ease.