OKC Thunder may reduce Kevin Durant’s playing time
By Bryan Rose
When it comes to league leaders few players will see their name pop up on the board more than Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant. Of course, that’s for better or worse considering Durant also finds himself atop the league leaders in minutes played.
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Granted, most MVP-caliber players will find themselves playing extremely heavy minutes but Kevin Durant seems to take the idea to another level, almost never sitting during Oklahoma City Thunder games. Add in his rather frail frame, deep playoff runs and commitments outside the NBA (say like Team USA in the past) and you have a recipe to wear a player out.
Given such, it’s possible the Oklahoma City Thunder will reduce the playing time of Kevin Durant for the upcoming season.
“As we go forward there’s no question that’s something we want to look at and understand,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti stated about Durant’s heavy workload at season end. “Not only for the long term, but to also make sure we are getting the most out of the minutes that are played during one particular game or another…I can’t tell you what comes of it.”
Kevin Durant is already among the league leaders in the history of the NBA in terms of minutes played compared to his time spent in the NBA, which doesn’t take into account his postseason games (and there have been a lot). Clearly, there is reason to be cautious and it may be in the best interest of the Thunder to keep Durant’s minutes restrained moving forward.