NEW YORK — Kevin Durant has a sprained right knee and the Brooklyn Nets say he will miss at least two weeks.
Durant was hurt Sunday during the third quarter of the Nets’ 102-101 victory in Miami after the Heat’s Jimmy Butler fell into his knee. Durant grabbed at his knee and briefly remained in the game before asking to come out and going to the locker room.
He had an MRI on Monday that revealed an isolated sprain in his medial collateral ligament. The team said he would be re-evaluated in two weeks.
Durant has led the Nets to 18 wins in their last 20 games and a 27-13 record, a game behind Boston for the best record in the NBA.
He missed 21 games last season when he sprained his left MCL in January – also when a player fell into him – and the Nets fell apart. They went 5-16, tumbling down the standings, and their poor play without him contributed to Durant’s disappointment with the franchise and trade request over the summer.
Durant eventually rescinded the request and has been playing some of the best basketball of his career this season. He is sixth in the league with 29.7 points per game and shooting a career-high 55.9% from the field. Durand passed Dominique Wilkins to move into 14th place on the NBA’s career scoring list earlier in Sunday’s game.
Now the Nets will hope to better withstand his absence, believing they are better balanced than last season under coach Jacque Vaughn.
“The strength of our team is us picking each other up and just being ready for whatever’s thrown at us,” teammate Kyrie Irving said after the game.
The Nets play again Thursday when they host Boston in a nationally televised showdown.
LAKERS: The Los Angeles Lakers ruled out LeBron James for Monday night’s game against the Denver Nuggets due to a sore left ankle.
Earlier in the day, James was named Western Conference player of the week. He averaged 35 points, 8.7 rebounds and 7.7 assists over his last three games.
The 18-time All-Star has won the weekly award 66 times in his career, including on five occasions with the Lakers.
James, 38, is closing in on a milestone, sitting just 35 points away from joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as members of the NBA’s 38,000-point club.
MONDAY’S GAMES
PELICANS 132, WIZARDS 112: CJ McCollum had 34 points, Jonas Valanciunas added 27 points and visiting New Orleans beat Washington.
New Orleans (25-16), which had lost four of five, took the lead early in the second quarter and put the game away when it scored the first 15 points of the fourth to take a 115-88 lead with 8:44 to play.
Washington (17-24) has lost three straight and was missing leading scorer Bradley Beal, who didn’t play for the fifth time in six games with a strained left hamstring. Kristaps Porzingis led the Wizards with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Kyle Kuzma scored 19 points before fouling out with 9:03 to play. In the second quarter, he was assessed a technical foul, and when Kuzma was called for his sixth foul, he marched off the court and walked into the locker room.
New Orleans was without its leading scorer, Zion Williamson, who missed his fourth straight game with a strained right hamstring.
BUCKS 111, KNICKS 105: Giannis Antetokounmpo had 22 points and 10 rebounds, and Milwaukee used 3-point shooting to wipe out a 17-point deficit in the second half to win in New York.
Joe Ingles added a season-high 17 points and Brook Lopez also scored 17 for the Bucks, who made 12 3-pointers after falling behind 70-53 with five minutes remaining in the third quarter. Lopez made one that snapped a 97-all tie before Jrue Holiday – forced to the bench after committing three fouls in the first 4 1/2 minutes – scored five straight Milwaukee points before the Bucks closed it out at the free throw line to snap the Knicks’ four-game winning streak.
Jalen Brunson scored a career-high 44 points for the Knicks, adding seven assists. Julius Randle had 25 points, 16 rebounds and five assists, but was just 1 for 12 from 3-point range.
GRIZZLIES 121, SPURS 113: Tyus Jones, filling in for Ja Morant, had 24 points, Jaren Jackson Jr. added 16 and host Memphis withstood a second-half San Antonio rally.
Desmond Bane and Dillon Brooks finished with 15 apiece for Memphis, which played its second consecutive game without Morant, its leading scorer, who is nursing soreness in his right thigh.
Tre Jones led the Spurs with 18 points.
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