Kevin Durant will not play in Game 4 of the NBA Finals, Golden State coach Steve Kerr announced Thursday.
Durant has not played since he injured his right calf on May 8 in the Western Conference semifinals. He has missed the past eight games.
Kerr had better news when it came to Klay Thompson’s strained left hamstring. Thompson didn’t play in Game 3 on Wednesday as the Warriors lost 123-109 to the Toronto Raptors, said Kerr said the star guard would play in Game 4 “barring something unforeseen.”
Toronto leads the best-of-seven series 2-1, with Game 4 set for Friday night in Oakland, Calif.
Kerr said he had hoped Durant could take part in a team scrimmage on Thursday but the training staff wasn’t comfortable with that. He said Wednesday that he thought Durant would take part.
“There was no setback,” Kerr said Thursday. “I was hoping today would be the day he’d get back on the floor. It’s not going to be today.”
The Warriors are 6-2 without Durant, but there is no doubt they could use his contributions against a tough Toronto team. In 78 games in the regular season, he averaged 26 points, 6.4 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game. In the postseason, he is producing 34.2 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game.
In other injury news, Golden State big man Kevon Looney could see action in the NBA Finals, despite sustaining an upper-body cartilage fracture in the Game 2 against the Raptors, according to a report.
Citing league sources, ESPN reported that further evaluation of the fracture led to hope of a return. More testing will be done to determine his status.
The team called the injury a non-displaced first costal cartilage fracture on Looney’s right side.
