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DALLAS, TEXAS – DECEMBER 06: Kevin Durant #7 of the Houston Rockets drives to the basket against Max Christie #00 of the Dallas Mavericks during the first quarter at American Airlines Center on December 06, 2025 in Dallas, Texas. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Tim Heitman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Kevin Durant<\/a> watched in civvies on the bench while his Houston Rockets<\/a> dropped Game 1 against the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> on Saturday evening.\u00a0<\/p>\n Even without Luka Doncic<\/a> and Austin Reaves<\/a>, the Lakers came out firing behind the boisterous home crowd.<\/p>\n L.A.\u2019s spirit was elevated from jump by the timeless LeBron James<\/a>, who looked spry and engaged.\u00a0<\/p>\n James, 41, masterfully facilitated, picking up eight assists in just the first quarter, as numerous Lakers were set up for easy baskets.\u00a0<\/p>\n Along with James\u2019 glorious table-setting, sharpshooting guard Luke Kennard<\/a>, whom the Lakers acquired just over two months ago at the trade deadline, embraced the Los Angeles playoff stage as he splashed away from the 3-point line and packed a major punch with 27 points, a game-high.<\/p>\n While all that was happening, all Durant could do was watch from the sidelines. The momentum of the series, once falling entirely in the Rockets favor, has swung mightily after one game.<\/p>\n Kevin Durant\u2019s Status for Game 2 Becomes Clearer<\/p>\n Even without Durant, a 16-time All-Star, in the lineup, the Rockets could not have felt great about Game 1\u2019s outcome.<\/p>\n They were thoroughly out-classed, out-played, out-hussled, out-everything\u2019d \u2014 even if the numbers tell a completely different story.<\/p>\n The several shots showing Houston head coach Ime Udoka with a disgusted expression plastered to his face said it all.<\/p>\n With the Rockets staring at a 0-2 deficit, the need for Durant grows larger. The 37-year-old Houston star is statistically one of the best postseason performers ever. Even at an advanced age, his contributions cannot be underestimated.<\/p>\n As of Monday evening, the Rockets officially listed<\/a> Durant as questionable on the injury report. That means there is still some doubt over his availability in Game 2, which is nerve-wracking to say the least.<\/p>\n GettyHouston Rockets forward Kevin Durant<\/p>\n What Even Happened to the Rockets Star?<\/p>\n Durant\u2019s injury was sudden and unexpected by the public.\u00a0<\/p>\n According to reports, Durant suffered a knee injury in team practice sometime last week. His knee made contact with a teammate, which caused the injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Monday, Durant reportedly participated in only half of the Rockets\u2019 practice.\u00a0<\/p>\n ESPN\u2019s NBA<\/a> insider Shams Charania revealed greater detail on the severity of Durant\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n \u201cMy understanding is Kevin Durant is dealing with a deep bruise in his right patellar tendon that he suffered last Wednesday during a practice drill when he was chasing after a loose ball and collided that knee with a teammate,\u201d Charania said on \u201cNBA Today.\u201d \u201cAnd that has since caused swelling, pain [and] it\u2019s impacted his range of motion in the leg as well.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cFor Kevin Durant to miss a playoff game, that speaks to the severity of the injury in it of itself.\u201d<\/p>\n The Rockets will have to be especially careful with Durant\u2019s injury. The star forward is 37 with a ton of mileage on his legs. It is never advisable to rush an older player through what seems like a tricky lower-body injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n Durant has battled injury troubles over his career, most notably an Achilles tendon tear he suffered in his final year with the Golden State Warriors<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n But this season, Durant has been healthy, to his credit, appearing in the most regular season games since the 2018-19 season. His consistent availability this year helped propel Houston to a top five seed in a tough Western Conference.<\/p>\n With just over 24 hours from Game 2, Durant\u2019s exact game status will come into greater focus. The Rockets hope to avoid heading to Houston facing an early series hole.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAdel Ahmad<\/a> Adel is a writer with over five years of experience covering the NBA. His work has appeared on various media platforms, both national and local. More about Adel Ahmad<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Rockies\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty DALLAS, TEXAS – DECEMBER 06: Kevin Durant #7 of the Houston Rockets drives to the basket against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":479356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,292,194,4066,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-714902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-houston","10":"tag-houston-rockets","11":"tag-houstonrockets","12":"tag-nba","13":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116439912869446142","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/479356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Kevin](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2270652208_8d41d1.jpg\")
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