Nets number one star Kevin Durant will reportedly be out for 4-6 weeks with a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee, which could change the overall pattern of the NBA for nearly 2 months and may also affect the final attribution of the regular season MVP. Durant has been firmly in the top three of the MVP list this season, shooting 52% from the field and 37.2% from three-point range, averaging 29.3, 7.4 and 5.8 points per game. And despite Kyrie Irving missing most of the season and James Harden struggling at the start of the season, Durant led the Nets to remain in the first echelon of the East with his super personal ability.
Many players have played top-notch this season, and as The All-Star Weekend approaches, the battle for MVP has entered a white-hot pitch. But Durant's injury undoubtedly brings more uncertainty to the ownership of MVP, as the top 2 MVP candidates are likely to all be out before the end of the season.
Durant has played in 36 games this season, but a 4-6 week absence could mean he will fall out of MVP contenders forever because of lack of attendance. The Nets were considered a super team at the start of the season, but Irving has only played three games this season, while Harden struggled at the start of the season, and scorer Joe Harris played just 14 games and averaged just 11.3 points per game. Without much help from his teammates, Durant showed extreme efficiency on the court, having to endure the enormous pressure of heavy playing time (36.5 minutes per game, 5th in the league). It doesn't seem fair to Durant to be removed from the MVP contenders' list so quickly, but missing out for nearly two months means the superstar won't play more than 60 games this season, and given the intensity of MVP competition this year, he's probably out early.
Due to the current large number of players in the NBA who have played superstar-level performances, after Durant returns to the NBA after 4-6 weeks, even the top 10 of the MVP list may be difficult to re-enter, especially considering that the Nets are competing for this year's NBA championship, so they should be more cautious about Durant's injury, so Durant is likely not to return during the regular season, and even if he returns, he will be subject to strict playing time restrictions, which means that he has no possibility of winning the regular season MVP this season.
If we look at the MVP winners of the past 10 years, in an 82-game full regular season (excluding the 2011-12, 2019-20, 2020-21 season), only the 2018-19 alphabet brother and the 2017-18 season Harden won the MVP without playing less than 72 games.
With Durant already missing six games this season, he will miss another 19 games if he returns six weeks later (March 2 against the Raptors), meaning he can only play a maximum of 57 games this season, so it means he is no longer on the MVP's radar.
Here's a list of the top 10 players in the latest MVP rankings, currently given by Sports News
10 Ja-Morant
9 Zach-Lavin
8 James Harden
7 Rudy Gobert
6 Chris Paul
5 Joel Embiid
4 Demar DeRozan
3 Nikolai Jokic
2 Stephen Curry
1 letter brother