Durant still has a lot of love for his old teammate.
Tuesday night should have been a good one for Kevin Durant. The Phoenix Suns superstar was the catalyst for a 23-point comeback over the Los Angeles Clippers, leading Phoenix to a tight 119-117 victory. However, there was another important facet to the day which had Durant in a difficult emotional mindset.
It was revealed by Shams Charania earlier on Tuesday that Kyrie Irving had suffered a torn ACL. The 2024-25 NBA season was over for the Dallas Mavericks guard.
Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant (35).
Scott Wachter-Imagn Images
Durant and Irving were teammates on the Brooklyn Nets together before they both landed with their current teams. The two-time Finals MVP clearly still had a lot of love left for his old co-star, because when asked about the injury, Durant had a visibly difficult time responding.
“I feel for my boy. I know how much he cares about the game, and loves the game, and loves his routine, and enjoys playing for his teammates, the ultimate teammate, the best teammate. Man, he loves the game so much, I’m just, I’m just hurt for him.
But he’s such a strong-minded person, and he’s gonna bounce back, and be a Kyrie even better than he was before he got hurt. So, prayers up to him, and wish him a speedy recovery.”
-Kevin Durant
Durant has had his fair share of injuries throughout his legendary NBA career. The Suns superstar can clearly identify how tough of a process it is to get back from a major one like the torn ACL that Irving has. The 15-time All-Star notably had to work his way back from devastating injuries of his own, like the torn right Achilles suffered in 2019.
Despite Irving being on the older side, at 32 years old, Durant sounds confident that the torn ACL will not greatly affect the elite player that the shifty guard is. That will hopefully be the case once Irving is ready to make his return to on-court action.