Thunder GM says it’s ‘hard to put a timeframe’ on Kevin Durant’s foot injury

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti repeatedly stressed that the team has not yet settled on a timetable or a plan for the Jones fracture in Kevin Durant’s foot. In a Sunday press conference following the announcement, Presti said that while most Jones fracture cases require a 6-8-week recovery, the Thunder still must gather more information before committing to that timetable.

“Jones fracture is, from what I’ve been told, the most common surgical procedure performed on NBA players as of late. There’s enough of a body of work to look at an average recovery time,” Presti said.

“[But] we’re always really cautious in these cases,” he continued. “Until you understand the individual case, it’s hard to put a timeframe of it. It’s not on us to predict.”

Presti said that while the team’s medical department researched other Jones fracture cases to come up with the proposed 6-8-week timetable, they still must consult with Durant and his representatives. While Presti said “all signs” point to a surgical procedure, the team and Durant have not yet made that determination.

“I’ll always caution everybody that until we have our case examined thoroughly, it’s hard to say it’ll be like anyone else because we’re not able to predict medicine or nature,” Presti said.

Presti credited Durant and the medical staff for catching the injury before it became even more serious. Durant reported discomfort in the right foot after Saturday’s practice and the fracture was discovered soon thereafter.

“It’s a stress-related injury,” Presti said. “So, these things can happen acutely, they can happen over a period of time and it can be a combination. We’re catching it on the front end.”

“He could be playing on it today,” Presti said later. “But he’d be doing further damage on it and he’d be causing more of an issue.”

Presti used a lot of different phrases to insist that the Thunder would survive Durant’s absence. At one point, he said there’s “an opportunity” to create a “better brand of basketball” with Durant injured that he can slide into when he returns. At another, Presti said the team’s defense will need to be stronger to make up for the absence of Durant’s scoring. He used the phrase “withdraw or advance” multiple times.

But he also knows that Durant’s injury leaves a giant hole that the organization has no choice but to try to overcome.

“If you can only operate when the wind’s blowing out for you, I don’t think that’s the mark of an elite team or an elite organization,” he said.

(All quotes via NBATV’s live stream).