Kevin Durant out at least a week after undergoing procedure in injured foot

Kevin Durant has battled foot troubles all season, since missing the first 17 games of the season after suffering a Jones fracture in his right foot during training camp. When he’s played, he’s played at his usual MVP level, but he’s missed 11 additional games with injuries since returning, and now, he’s run into another setback:

Kevin Durant underwent a procedure today on his right foot to help reduce pain and discomfort. He’ll be re-evaluated in a week.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 22, 2015

Durant’s procedure was to replace the screw he had in his foot with a new one. It’s unrelated to his foot fracture that he had surgery on.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 22, 2015

General manager Sam Presti said Durant’s fracture was healing “perfectly” and this procedure was done to help alleviate pain and discomfort.

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 22, 2015

Presti: “All expectations are [Durant] will return during the regular season.”

— Royce Young (@royceyoung) February 22, 2015

So, this isn’t ideal at all for the Thunder. The bottom of the Western Conference playoff race may just come down to who’s the healthiest, and between Durant’s continued issues and the Pelicans’ Sunday announcement that Anthony Davis will miss a couple of weeks, the most important players are dropping all over the place.

The Thunder currently hold a game-and-a-half lead over the Suns for eighth place in the Western Conference, and while the Suns are fully healthy (knock on wood), they’re currently integrating several new players into their rotation and getting used to life post-Goran Dragic. In the best-case scenario, Durant misses only a week, which includes games against the Nuggets tonight, Pacers Tuesday, and a road back-to-back on Thursday and Friday against the Suns and Blazers. The latter two games are going to be killer, especially the Suns game. Phoenix will be motivated to beat them and potentially overtake them in the playoff race.

The Thunder made moves at the deadline to upgrade their bench, bringing in Enes Kanter, Steve Novak, Kyle Singler and D.J. Augustin. They have more depth now than they did a week ago, but the reigning MVP is a huge hole to fill. The bottom line has always been the same: if Durant is healthy, the Thunder are a title contender. If he’s not, they might miss the playoffs. Hopefully he’s not out too much longer. It’s starting to get concerning.