jury for an athlete. Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant thought as much when he tore his back when he played for the Golden State Warriors in 2019.
Durant revealed his initial thoughts to ESPN’s Baxter Holmes following the confirmation of his Achilles tear.
“This is career-ending, I’m done,” Durant recalled thinking. Even if he came back, maybe he’d only average 15 points a game, maybe a few more — maybe,” Holmes revealed in an April 26 story.
That’s what I was thinking,” Durant told Holmes, “because that’s all I was hearing, that this (expletive) is over.”
Durant admitted that recovering from the tear was hard for him mentally as well.
I don’t want to say I was depressed, because depression is its own thing, but whatever is under depression,” Durant said. “There was something mentally that was going on. That’s a dark place. We all think we’re these god-like beings. I couldn’t tell the future. I didn’t know what the f— was next. I didn’t know how I was going to look or feel or play.”
Durant has proven to be the exception to the norm when it comes to Achilles’ tears. While Durant hasn’t avoided the injury bug since then, he has still averaged 26 points a game or more since his return in 2020. While Achilles tears typically make the body more vulnerable to more injuries, Durant’s have been accidental.
