Kevin Durant says he’ll return Thursday night vs. Bucks

The Golden State Warriors are set to get one of their injured stars back, as Kevin Durant says he’ll be back on the floor Thursday night.

Kevin Durant has missed the last six games with a rib injury, as the Golden State Warriors have had lineups filled with backups lately. Steve Kerr was less certain before Tuesday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers, but Durant told ESPN’s Chris Haynes he’ll be playing Thursday night against the Milwaukee Bucks.

“You can tell them I’m playing Thursday,” Durant told ESPN shortly before tipoff for Tuesday night’s game with the Indiana Pacers.

Kerr also said Durant wanted to play Tuesday night, but “we didn’t let him.”

Durant was injured March 11 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he played three days later against the Lakers and has been out of action since. The Warriors are 2-4 with Durant out of the lineup, and they have lost six of their last nine games with Stephen Curry (ankle/knee), Klay Thompson (right thumb) and Draymond Green (pelvic contusion/illness) in and out of the lineup at best.

But the Warriors are still 54-20 and pretty much locked into the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, 6.5 games behind the top seed Houston Rockets and eight games ahead of the No. 3 seed Portland Trail Blazers. The only question is who they’ll play in the first round, with the No. 3-No. 8 seeds in the West separated by just 4.5 games entering Wednesday, and Curry is the only of Golden State’s injured stars who is not expected to play in that opening playoff series.

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Winning titles is the only thing for the Warriors, and anything short will be a disappointment. So having everyone healthy for the playoffs is the only priority, with eight games to go in the regular season. Durant’s return is a big first step, even if he’s on a bit of a minutes limit over the remaining games.