Source: San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images / Getty
Two teams and five years later, Kevin Durant is finally ready to talk about his heartbreaking 2019 injury.
Fans remember the 2019 Finals when Durant was still a member of the Golden State Warriors when he ruptured his Achilles in Game 5 against the Toronto Raptors. As the crowd chants his name, he yells, “F-ck,” and it was then that most knew it was a very serious injury.
Now, Durant is sitting with his longtime agent and business partner Rich Kleiman for Bleacher Report to talk about what was going through his mind as he blankly stared into the stands and waited for his teammates to help him get to his feet.
“That’s when I knew, I’m like, ‘Alright, I probably won’t go back to the Bay again,’ ” Durant said. “There’s 20,000 people in there, and I heard a pop, so I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ and my whole basketball career just flashed before my eyes, everything, everything I did, everything that I thought about, all my favorite moments, all my bad moments; it flashed.”
In that moment, he even wondered if his career had gone up in smoke.
“And that’s why if you watch, I’m just sitting there gazing into the crowd before somebody came over to help me up. Because I’m just like, ‘This sh-t is over with.’ Like I truly don’t know what I’m about to be, and that’s a nerve-racking feeling when you don’t know who you are,” he admitted.
The injury came as Durant was returning from a strained calf, but he knew how much the Warriors needed his shooting in Game 5. But after scoring 11 points, 2 minutes into the second quarter, he was being guarded by Serge Ibaka when he suffered the noncontact injury. Not only did it end his season, but it was also his third and final season with the Golden State Warriors.
The Warriors were unable to beat the Raptors, and eventually lost the series 4-2. Durant then took his talents to the Brooklyn Nets, where he sat out the entire 2019-20 season to repair his Achilles. From there, he left to join forces with Devin Booker and Bradley Beal in Phoenix, where they currently sit in fifth place in the West.
See how social media is reacting to Durant addressing the major injury below.
