Kevin Durant doesn’t want Jokic to be compared to him: “hopefully they don’t start”
The NBA veteran spoke about Jokic’s injury and explained that the reaction could be negative.
When Kevin Durant hit the deck in January 2022, he held on tightly to the area of skin that surrounds the medial collateral ligament, a flat band of membrane on the inside of the knee joint that connects one bone to another.
An innocuous collision with teammate Bruce Brown was enough to keep him out for over 20 games as the protein strip healed from a sprain, and during that time, Durant had a lot of time to reflect.
The same will be likely for Nikola Jokic who, in a recent clash against the Miami Heat went down holding the same part of his anatomy, only to be ruled out for a number of weeks with a similar diagnosis.
“Jimmy Butler rolled into Durant’s legs last season, resulting in a right knee injury on Jan. 8, 2023, that sidelined him for nearly two months” https://t.co/NCR979izN2 pic.twitter.com/DbNTfXCOsi
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) April 15, 2024
“It’s one of those freak injuries that you can’t really control”
Durant spoke to reporters on Thursday night after the Rockets beat the Nets 120-96 and was asked about Jokic’s injury: “One thing I don’t want to see with Nikola is like, they started calling me ‘injury prone’ after that, but hopefully they don’t start with him because it’s one of those freak injuries that you can’t really control. You can do all the work you can, but somebody falls into your knee, that’s just tough.”
“So it’s good to see it’s only four weeks and it’s not anything too big,” Durant added. “It wasn’t an MCL sprain or Level 2, it felt like it was just a tweak and he’s going to be back out there soon. He’s great for the game and you want to see the best players on the floor at all times.”
Before the injury, Jokic was averaging 29.9 points, 12.4 rebounds, and 11.1 assists per game in what was turning into a truly historic campaign, one which has helped the Nuggets to a sensational 22–10 record in the NBA.
NIKOLA JOKIĆ WITH VIDEO GAME STATS ON CHRISTMAS DAY 🤯
— NBA (@NBA) December 26, 2025
🃏 56 PTS
🃏 16 REB
🃏 15 AST
🃏 2 BLK
🃏 4 3PM
THE FIRST 55/15/15 GAME IN NBA HISTORY 🚨 pic.twitter.com/8LPXlFWO6V
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