Suns All-Star Kevin Durant suffers a left ankle sprain injury and is ruled out in the 3rd quarter of Sunday’s game in Phoenix.
PHOENIX (AP) — Phoenix Suns All-Star Kevin Durant was helped to the locker room with 6:57 left in the third quarter against Houston on Sunday night after falling to the floor in a collision with the Rockets’ Jabari Smith Jr.
Smith was called for a foul under the Phoenix basket as Durant fell to the floor. The 6-foot-10 forward eventually got to his feet, but could not put any weight on his left leg. He appeared to step on Smith’s foot when he fell.
After Houston’s 148-109 victory, Suns coach Mike Budenholzer said Durant will have an MRI on his left ankle Monday and will not accompany the team to Milwaukee for a game Tuesday night. The Suns also have games at Boston and New York in the next seven days.
With just two weeks remaining, and six games in all, the Suns were already facing an uphill battle to qualify for the final Western Conference play-in berth. Phoenix trails Sacramento by 1.5 games.
Durant played 23 minutes, scoring 11 points and grabbing eight rebounds. Earlier this season, he moved into eighth place on the NBA career scoring list.