The severe mismanagement of Kevin Durant's foot injury

[SillyRabbit]

Kevin Durant fractured his right foot on October 12th. It was diagnosed as a Jones fracture and he was expected to be out for eight weeks. Doctors are now saying that he should've actually sat out for 4-6 months in order to let his foot properly heal, as the only way for it to fully recover it is to simply stay off it.

After Russell Westbrook went down with a hand injury and the Thunder started out 4-12, Durant clearly felt pressure to return to the lineup. After seven weeks, Durant made an early return to the lineup where he played nine games before suffering a right ankle injury (the same foot where he had his Jones fracture) against Golden State. Just two weeks after suffering that ankle injury, Durant was back in the lineup again, missing a few more games in January due to soreness, then returning for a game against Memphis before sitting out the next two games, again with soreness.

Despite missing a number of games heading into the All-Star break (a one week break which would've been a perfect time to rest or to get another surgery if needed) he elected to fly down to Brooklyn so he could play 10 minutes in the All-Star game. He only played one game after All-Star weekend before sitting out due to more soreness, and eventually went under the knife for another surgery on his foot. He hasn't played since, and has now been shut down for the season.

The Thunder had to bring in two independent specialists before they realized that Durant now needs yet another surgery which could see him sidelined into next season.

This timeline screams incompetence. Initially, if the Thunder's medical staff had just allowed Durant the necessary amount of time to rest when he first got his Jones fracture, everything could've healed properly. But rushing him back led to another injury, which he was then rushed back from again. As if it wasn't completely obvious that something was wrong when he was constantly sitting out games due to soreness, the Thunder then send him out to the All-Star game instead of using that week to let him rest, or get another surgery.

It has now come out that Durant's foot never fully healed from the initial Jones fracture and he's basically been playing the whole season on a broken foot. I'm sorry but how do you let one of the best athletes in the world suffer (and risk further injury) without giving him the proper medical diagnosis and treatment? (Once again, it was the independent specialists who discovered this, not the Thunder's staff).

This isn't the first time the Thunder's staff have rushed a player back from injury too early. After his season ending knee surgery in 2013, Russell Westbrook was deemed 100% cleared to play by the Thunder's staff. He continued to have pain however, and only after he sought the advice of an independent doctor, did he then learn that he had loose stitching in his knee that needed to be replaced. Russell then trusted that independent doctor to do the surgery, rather than the Thunder's staff. Actually, none of the six surgeries that Durant and Westbrook required will have been done by the Thunder's medical staff That clearly speaks for itself.

Other players who have been rushed back too early include Serge Ibaka during the third round of the playoffs against San Antonio, who was extremely lucky that he did not re-injure himself further, Steven Adams (his hand is still swollen from surgery a month ago, yet he is playing) and Russell Westbrook again (he only missed one game after getting surgery on his fractured cheekbone).

Sure, Westbrook is a freak of nature and hasn't showed any signs of slowing down, but he is very much the exception, rather than the rule.

To me, this looks as if the OKC management/medical staff:

A) Allowed the players to decide when they wanted to return, when it's quite obvious that competitive athletes will want to play as soon as possible, often not considering their own long term health
B) Did not do their due diligence in making sure that their players were properly healed
C) Rushed players back in fear of missing the playoffs

Failing to manage their players health (including Brooks overplaying Westbrook and Durant, which is a conversation for another day) falls right in line with the shortsightedness and lack of forethought that this team's management has displayed for as long as I can remember.

TLDR: OKC's management is just as cheap with their medical staff as they are with their basketball budget.

[dunksby]

This is my post from a few weeks ago:

Well I have no way of knowing for sure, but looks like NBA teams mostly don't put adequate effort into injury prevention and also lack good medical staff and injury treatment facilities. A lot of coaches rush their players back, mostly due to bad counsel or lack of one, you see players getting injured because they don't stretch and warm up before games. I remember hearing rumors that Rose never even stretched before playing and docs thought it had a lot to do with his injury. I believe a lot of, at least mild injuries, could be prevented if teams started implementing injury prevention policies and had players educated, develop healthy habits.

[dubeta]

Can't blame them, there are no colleges in OKC.

[Siemens]

That is quite a wall of text. I do agree with the title though.

[salwan]

I hope kd and Westbrook leave this trash franchise.

Yes, they're great at drafting and developing players, but they made so many huge mistakes:

1) the Harden trade
2) keeping Brooks - this is actually shocking. They pride themselves in being huge on analytics and all this stuff, yet they've kept ISO Brooks.
3) the handling of players' injuries
4) sitting on their hands and not getting help sooner after trading Harden (e.g. afflalo, ariza and co.)
5) keeping perkins for so long instead
6)trading for waiters. They didn't give up much, but really?

I'm sorry, but it's infuriating to watch even from an unbiased fan's standpoint. This is the equivalent of winning the lottery and forgetting the money in the taxi on the way home.

[JohnFreeman]

Some players just aren't built for the NBA long term.

[stephanieg]

You don't mess around with back/knee/foot injuries. Let 'em heal 100%.

[JtotheIzzo]

shit city, shit franchise.

they trade away an MVP, and run their own MVP into the ground. they keep a shit coach and trade for morons like Dion Waiters.

lucky for them they are in a city that will take whatever it can get.

[PleezeBelieve]

Where would team be without Waiters and Kanter???

Nowhere...

[StrongLurk]

Can't blame them, there are no colleges in OKC.

KG

[ralph_i_el]

The miseducation of Kevin Durant('s foot)

[ISHGoat]

The miseducation of Kevin Durant('s foot)

The uneducation of an entire state (okc)

[HurricaneKid]

Awful post clearly shows your incompetence re: medical issues, but especially this one.