Steve Kerr Says Warriors Never Thought Kevin Durant Could Tear Achilles

Programming note: Watch the NBA Finals pregame edition of Warriors Outsiders on Thursday at 4 p.m., streaming live on the MyTeams app.

Warriors head coach Steve Kerr met with the media on Wednesday afternoon.

He of course was asked about all the noise on social media, TV, podcasts, talk radio, etc. about Golden State deserving the blame for the right Achilles injury Kevin Durant sustained during Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Monday night.

Kerr responded with a long and thoughtful answer:

"There's going to be blame, there's going to be fingerpointing. And we understand that. We accept that ... the main thing is our concern for Kevin. Obviously, everybody feels horrible for what happened.

"As Bob [Myers GM Bob Myers] mentioned the other night, this last month (has been) a collaborative effort in his rehabilitation. And that collaboration included Kevin and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, our medical staff, his own outside doctor.

"Kevin checked all the boxes and he was cleared to play by everybody involved. Now, would we go back and do it over again? Damn right. But that's easy to say after the results. When we gathered all the information, our feeling was the worst thing could happen would be a reinjury of the calf.

"That was the advice and the information that we had. And at that point, once Kevin was cleared to play he was comfortable with that and we were comfortable with that. So the Achilles came as a complete shock.

"Had we known that this was a possibility, there's no way we would have ever allowed Kevin to come back. It's devastating, mostly for Kevin obviously. I feel horribly for Rick Celebrini [Golden State's Director of Sports Medicine and Performance] as well, who is one of the best people I've ever been around and one of the smartest, brightest minds I've ever been around.

"He's devastated. We all are."

The reigning two-time NBA Finals MVP did tear his Achilles and underwent surgery on Wednesday:

[RELATEDWhy KD reportedly flew to New York for Achilles evaluation]

When Golden State takes the floor for Game 6 at Oracle Arena on Thursday night, KD will probably be recovering in a hospital thousands of miles away from Oakland.

That is awful, not cool and not fair. 

Follow @DrewShiller on Twitter and Instagram

Copyright CSNBY - CSN BAY
Contact Us