MRI reveals Kevin Durant has MCL sprain, will miss at least four weeks

The biggest acquisition of the 2016 NBA offseason will be sidelined by a knee injury until at least close to the start of the 2017 playoffs.

Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant injured his left knee during Tuesday night’s loss to the Washington Wizards, and the team announced the results of his MRI on Wednesday. He has a Grade 2 MCL sprain and is out indefinitely. He will be re-evaluated in four weeks, and the team says he has not yet been ruled out for the entirety of the regular season, which ends April 12.

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Durant left the game in the first quarter of the Warriors’ loss after teammate Zaza Pachulia fell into his left knee.

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/836740449817677826

Durant, an eight-time All-Star and four-time NBA scoring champ with the Thunder, signed with the Warriors last offseason after Golden State lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals. The Warriors had won an NBA-record 73 games in the regular season but failed to defend their NBA title, and the thinking was that adding one of the league’s top five players to a loaded roster would put Golden State back on top.

With Durant putting up big numbers (25.3 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists per game) and the Warriors out to a 50-10 start that gives them a four-game lead on the rest of the Western Conference, that plan was working perfectly until Durant went down Tuesday night.

Now the biggest questions are when Durant will be back and whether – likely at less than 100 percent when he returns – he’ll be able to deliver on the promise of helping Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green make it through the Western Conference playoffs and past the Cavaliers in an expected NBA Finals rematch.