Kevin Durant knows the frustration all too well. In January 2022, a seemingly harmless collision with teammate Bruce Brown led to an MCL sprain that sidelined him for over 20 games. Durant clutched the inside of his knee—the medial collateral ligament area—and spent weeks rehabbing what he called a “freak injury.”
Fast forward to 2025-26: Nikola Jokic suffered a similar scare against the Miami Heat, grabbing the same spot on his knee before being ruled out for several weeks with an MCL sprain.
After the Rockets’ 120-96 win over the Nets on Thursday, Durant spoke candidly about Jokic’s setback: “One thing I don’t want to see with Nikola is like, they started calling me ‘injury prone’ after that, but hopefully they don’t start with him because it’s one of those freak injuries that you can’t really control. You can do all the work you can, but somebody falls into your knee, that’s just tough.”
Durant added relief at the relatively positive prognosis: “So it’s good to see it’s only four weeks and it’s not anything too big. It wasn’t an MCL sprain or Level 2, it felt like it was just a tweak and he’s going to be back out there soon. He’s great for the game and you want to see the best players on the floor at all times.”
Jokic’s Historic Season on Pause
Before the injury, Jokic was in the midst of a potentially all-time great campaign:
29.9 points12.4 rebounds11.1 assists per game
His dominance has fueled the Nuggets’ strong 22-10 start. A multi-week absence is a blow, but Durant’s words highlight the random nature of such setbacks—and the hope for a swift return.
Veteran empathy from one superstar to another. The NBA is better when Jokic (and Durant) are healthy and dominating.
Get well soon, Joker. The league misses you already.