Foot injury to sideline OKC Thunder’s Kevin Durant for exhibition in Wichita

Wichita’s annual night with the stars of the NBA took a hit on Saturday.

Kevin Durant suffered a fractured right foot and will not play in Friday’s exhibition game for the Oklahoma City Thunder at Intrust Bank Arena. Durant, the NBA’s leading scorer and MVP last season, will likely undergo surgery to repair a Jones fracture, which is a broken bone at the base of the small toe. Athletes with this injury typically miss around two months, the Thunder said in a news release.

“After practice (Saturday), Kevin made us aware of discomfort in his right foot,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said in the news release. “We proceeded to perform the necessary imagining studies to determine the cause of his discomfort. At this stage, Kevin has been diagnosed with a Jones fracture. Traditional treatment of this injury requires a surgical procedure and recent NBA cases have resulted in a return to play in six-to-eight weeks. We are in the process of collaboratively evaluating the most appropriate next steps with Kevin, his representatives, and Thunder medical personnel. Until a course of action is determined, we are unable to provide a timeline specific to Kevin’s case.”

In a news conference Sunday, Presti told reporters that he has been told the Jones fracture is the most common injury suffered by NBA players. Durant, Presti said, could continue to play at the risk of worsening the injury and made the right decision to report the pain.

“It’s hard to put a time frame on anything,” Presti said. “We’re really fortunate that we’re catching it when we’re catching it. We’re catching it kind of on the front end, before this became more of an acute issue.”

Should Durant miss six weeks, he could return in December to play around 65 games of Oklahoma City’s 82-game regular-season schedule. He averaged 32 points and 7.4 rebounds last season to lead the Thunder to the Western Conference finals. The Thunder is used to playing without star guard Russell Westbrook, who has missed significant time with knee injuries in recent seasons. Durant missed one game in each of the past two seasons and skipped the FIBA World Cup this summer to rest.

Durant played exhibition games before complaining of pain in the foot. It is unclear how the injury happened.

“Our organization has been in situations similar to this in the past and this is when we’re at our best,” Presti said. “Within every adversity, we’re always looking for where the opportunity is. In these cases, you can either withdraw or advance and we're going to advance.”

Oklahoma City will play Toronto on Friday at Intrust Bank Arena. In 2012, the Thunder played the Dallas Mavericks in front of a sell-out crowd of 15,004. Last season, the Thunder played the Chicago Bulls in front of another full house.

Oklahoma City plays exhibition games Tuesday against Memphis at home and Thursday at New Orleans before coming to Wichita. The regular season begins on Oct. 29 against Portland.

Contributing: Associated Press

This story was originally published October 12, 2014 at 1:32 PM with the headline "Foot injury to sideline OKC Thunder’s Kevin Durant for exhibition in Wichita."