Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant isn't disheartened by his injury; in fact, he believes being sidelined with his fractured foot is a "win-win" for his teammates. Although he's expected to be out for six to eight weeks, he insisted to reporters on Tuesday he wouldn't rush back to play.
Durant complained about soreness in his right foot after a practice in early October. Tests later revealed the soreness to be a stress fracture, caused over time, and underwent surgery shortly after.
On Tuesday, rolling into the news conference on a scooter to keep his cast-wrapped foot elevated, he spoke to reporters for the first time since undergoing the surgery. Despite having to miss the beginning of the regular season, Durant sounded upbeat and viewed his injury as a positive thing.
"I feel like Nick Saban, just rolling around in my scooter from court to court giving advice and trying to help out as much as I can," he said, via ESPN. "I'm looking at the positive side of it. It's a win-win, basically, because I'm learning a lot while I'm out about the game, and my teammates are getting lots of opportunities because there are a lot of minutes out there to help the team."
The scoring load, by default, falls to guard Russell Westbrook. While Westbrook will get more touches, Durant said his teammate doesn't have to change anything about his game with the reigning MVP sidelined.
Durant also said he wouldn't take the risk of reinjuring himself by returning until he felt 100 percent healthy.
"I'm not going to rush it at all. That's the one thing I don't want to do," said Durant. "I'm sure I'll feel better in two or three weeks, but definitely don't want to rush it and wind up hurting it even more. I'm taking my time with it. I'm just blessed it happened early in the season where I can get past it, and hopefully by December I'll be ready to play."
