The Hard Truth About Kevin Durant's Future
Channel: Earn Your Ranks
Date: 2019-11-23

Welcome to Earn your ranks. In today's video, we look into the history of ruptured Achilles and deliver the hard truth to what it means for the future of Kevin Durant's career

Brian Sutterer MD | Kevin Durants Achilles Rupture:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHlBaw2X5iYQGJhd5v718Zw

Music Provided from:
https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music/cinematic

Performance Outcomes After Repair of Complete Achilles Tendon Ruptures in National Basketball Association Players paper from:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0363546513490659?rfr_dat=cr_pub%3Dpubmed&url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori%3Arid%3Acrossref.org&journalCode=ajsb

End Screen From:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y83vLaO6Ac

Check out:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gMixVgYFF0k&t=109s

We all know who Kevin Durant is he is one of the greatest small forwards to ever play the game. For the past 12 NBA seasons he has been wreaking havoc in the league and solidifying himself as one of the greatest scorers of all time. 
This came to a halt during the 2019 NBA finals, when Kevin Durant went down with one of the most devastating injuries, a ruptured Achilles in his right leg. 
This injury has changed the course of basketball and the hard truth is, the tough pill to swallow is, Kevin Durant will likely never be the same player again, we are not saying he won’t be a good player; we are not even saying he won’t be an all-star, but he won’t be that player who went to three straight NBA finals and won back to back finals MVP’s. That Kevin Durant is realistically done.
The Achilles injury
What is an Achilles rupture. A youtuber by the name Brian Sutterer MD makes content primarily on  athletes and the injuries they have sustained, he provided an in-depth analysis of Kevin Durant’s injury, which ill link below, but in short it is the Achilles tendon located at the back of your ankle bursting. 
When looking at previous players who have tore there achillies  and how it affected there play we stumbled across a paper published in 2013 studying the effects of an NBA players performance after the repair of a complete Achilles rupture. The study looked at 18 players from 1988 to 2011 who have tore there Achilles tendon, of those 18, 7 never suited up again for an NBA game and 3 would only go on to play a season, this includes hall of fame player Isiah Thomas and 1-time all-star Mehmet Okur.  Of the remaining 8 players we graphed, their player efficiency rating a season up to and prior to the injury and 2 years removed.  The graphs displayed that every players player efficiency rating regressed after an achillies injury. When viewing more recent candidates of the achillies injury we looked at  Wesley Mathew, Demarcus Cousins and Kobe Bryant. Each of their PER had declined and visually it was evident they weren’t the same player as before, losing much of their athleticism and being more susceptible to other injuries, we seen this in Kobe Bryant when he returned from his Achilles injury, he played 6 games and was ruled out for the rest of the season.  A more recent example is DeMarcus Cousins, not even a full year removed from returning from his achillies rupture, he tears his quad and then his ACL. The history of achillies ruptures is not in favor with Kevin Durant. 
We have to look at his age now. Durant is currently 31 years old. He will be 32 when he resumes play and will likely need a year of basketball under his belt for proper footing, this leaves him at the age of 33. When your 33, your best years are behind you, you are in your decline, your just not as quick, or strong and your body is not as responsive as it was before. Many hall of fame players that are healthy at this age are on their last legs or riding the bench. Father prime is against you and he’s undefeated.
 June 10th, 2019 was likely the last time we have ever truly seen Kevin Durant, dropping 11 points in 12 minutes in game 5 of the NBA finals. Age and history is against him, but there is a shimmer of hope, we might get to see Kevin Durant for a short period of time play at the elite level he did. This form of hope comes in the form of Dominque Wilkins. Dominique is an outlier, he tore his achillies at the age of 32, history and time wasn’t on his side, but he returned the following NBA season averaging nearly 30 points and receiving an all-star selection and an All-NBA second team selection. This is what we hope for because he is


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