The Suns are down, and the party is over.
Phoenix Suns superstar Kevin Durant’s MRI results came back negative on his left ankle sprain sustained in the third quarter of Sunday’s 148-109 loss to the Houston Rockets at PHX Arena, sources informed The Arizona Republic.
Durant badly sprained his ankle while penetrating to the basket as he stepped on Rockets forward Jabari Smith Jr’s foot with 6:57 left in the third quarter and Phoenix trailing by 35 points, 92-57, but the test revealed no structural damage. It marked the third time that Durant has sprained his left ankle over two years in Phoenix.
He went down in obvious pain, clinched his ankle and needed assistance getting to the bench and then the locker room.
Durant likely will miss multiple games. ESPN’s senior NBA insider Shams Charania reported he is expected to be on the shelf for at least one week.
Embed from Getty ImagesDurant leads the Suns in scoring, even at the age of 36, at 26.6 points a game in 62 games.
“Everybody has to step up starting with myself,” Suns star guard Devin Booker said. “Exact opposite of what went down (Sunday night). We have it in the locker room. We just have to pull it out.”
Durant did not travel with the team Monday to Milwaukee to begin the all-important three-game road trip Tuesday, April 1, against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Bucks (40-34) in Suns coach Mike Budenholzer’s return game against his former team, who showed him the door after the 2022-23 season. They go on to face the Boston Celtics on Friday and the New York Knicks on Sunday.
The Suns find themselves in a tough position and are 1.5 games out of a Play-In Tournament slot with seven games left and the hardest remaining schedule in the NBA. The Suns are 2-11 without Durant this season and 33-29 when he plays.
