Golden State Warriors superstar Kevin Durant has been out since the end of the February when he suffered a knee injury in Washington in front of his hometown crowd. Fast forward to about five weeks and KD appears to be ready to return on April 8, Saturday.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN, the Warriors are targeting Saturday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans for the return of Kevin Durant. The Golden State front office and coaching staff have been very optimistic about KD returning before the end of the regular season.
The 2014 MVP was diagnosed with an MCL sprain in his left knee after colliding with teammate Zaza Pachulia on February 28 against the Wizards. He was re-evaluated after a month and he could be deemed fit to return at the end of the week.
Kevin Durant has started playing 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 basketball with his teammates this week. He is progressing very well and he has not suffered any setbacks during his recovery. The Warriors struggled during the first couple of weeks since he got injured but they have recovered.
Golden State is the hottest team in basketball at the moment and they have won 12 straight games, per NBA.com. Stephen Curry is back to his MVP form while Klay Thompson has been shooting out of his mind during the streak.
Regarding Kevin Durant and his status for Saturday, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr told ESPN that he is planning to immediately insert Durant in the starting lineup. However, he also noted that they are going to put him on a minutes restriction for the final games of the regular season.
"I'm not too worried about incorporating him because he's been with us all season and fit right in from the beginning. So whenever he gets back, we'll plug him back in there and watch his minutes," Kerr said.
The Warriors will visit the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday before heading home to the Oracle Arena to play their final three games of the season. They are going to host the Pelicans on Saturday, the Utah Jazz on April 10 and the Los Angeles Lakers on April 12.
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