Injuries will always be part of life in the sports world.
In basketball, injuries have taken away the greatness of the multiple stars, preventing them from ever reaching their full potential.
The likes of Derrick Rose, Penny Hardaway, Tracy McGrady, Brandon Roy, Yao Ming, Grant Hill, Bill Walton, Chris Webber, Mark Price, Bernard King and many more had their primes cut short (or taken away completely) due to injury.
Although Price and King still managed to recover and have a border-line all-star careers afterwards, there’s still that question of what they could’ve done more if they didn’t get hurt.
And yes, there are other players like Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Al Jefferson, Zach LaVine, Danilo Gallinari who managed to recover from their ailments and even surpassed their pre-injury performances.
Seeing a player go down because of a career threatening injury and then return to the same level they were before it is a sight that all fans love to see.
This season, we’re seeing another great comeback from a superstar in Kevin Durant.
Game 5 of the 2019 NBA Finals between Toronto and Golden State saw the NBA world hold their breath as they saw one of the greatest to ever do it hobble and then slowly go down on the floor grabbing his right Achilles.
Although, he was able to walk a little bit, it was evident that the injury was serious as it resulted into him missing the rest of the series.
That injury caused GSW and Durant to miss the chance to bag a rare and coveted three-peat.
The two-time NBA Champion was diagnosed with a ruptured Achilles tendon on his right leg which forced him to be in the sidelines for one season.
Fans doubted if Durant would still be the same in his return to the league, especially since the injury has been so detrimental to so many others before him.
This season, the 32-year-old scoring machine looks unstoppable. He looks like he’s going to make a serious run at another regular season MVP title, which he last won in the 2013-14 season.
Durant is currently averaging 30.6 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 1.1 block in 54.1% shooting from the field and 48.4% from the three-point line.
He’s currently the second leading scorer in the league behind Bradley Beal (34.9 ppg) and is averaging 30 points for the first time since he averaged 32 points and won the Maurice Podoloff trophy.
A couple of days ago, Durant dropped a season-high of 42 points with four rebounds, five assists, two steals and two blocks in 16-26 shooting from the field and 5-8 from deep.
Today, the 2014 MVP proved once again why he’s the best player in Brooklyn as the Big 3 made their debut. He stood out in their losing effort against Cleveland.
Durant dropped 38 points along with 12 rebounds, eight assists and four blocks to lead the Nets.
Durant is playing the best basketball of his career since his MVP season and with Brooklyn being a strong favorite to make the Finals, there’s every reason to think that he might add another accolade to his long list.
As a basketball fan, it’s great to see something like this happen. The hope now is that he continues to stay healthy, because the Nets have definitely become must-watch basketball with him on the court.
Do you think we’ll see KD bag the MVP this season? Sound off in the comment section!
