Kevin Durant played in just 27 games a year ago as he was dealing with a foot injury that required three separate surgeries. Durant has been working his way back from the foot injury and has planned to be back for the beginning of the season all along but now it seems as though that is a guarantee. Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti has said that Durant is fully cleared for training camp which begins next week, according to Royce Young of ESPN.
Durant has reportedly been playing five-on-five scrimmages with teammates and has had no restrictions. Durant was also at Team USA training camp about a month ago where he worked out but didn't do much. Now Durant is ramping up his work outs and Presti is unsurprisingly very pleased. "He feels great. Looks great. Happy to have him back on the floor," said Presti.
Durant isn't the only player to be cleared for training camp, as it is being reported that every member of the Thunder has been cleared for the first day of camp, but he is clearly the most important. Last season without Durant the Thunder missed the playoffs and even though Russell Westbrook missed time too he showed down the stretch that he can't carry this team alone. Westbrook was on a tear to end last season getting triple-double after triple-double but the team was still missing their best player.
Having Durant back and fully healthy takes the Thunder from a fringe playoff team to an instant championship contender. Durant has won the scoring title in four of the last six seasons and beyond his scoring has become a terrific all-around player.
As for whether Durant will have his minutes limited as he works his way back Presti didn't have a definitive answer but said that head coach Billy Donovan and the training staff would make up a plan for that. Durant has averaged 38 minutes per game in his eight NBA seasons so it isn't unreasonable to think that might drop a little bit this year. The Thunder need Durant healthy more than anything this year and he wants to stay healthy as he heads into free agency next summer. For now though the news is all good as Durant will be able to go full speed next week when training camp begins.
