Kevin Durant knows the pain, the grind, and the loneliness that comes with tearing an Achilles. Once feared as a career-ending injury, a torn Achilles is now a brutal but survivable blow, largely thanks to athletes like Durant, who’ve set a blueprint for recovery.
On the latest episode of The Mind The Game podcast with Steve Nash and LeBron James, Durant opened up about becoming what he jokingly called the NBA’s “Achilles guy”—a veteran mentor for stars now walking the same painful path.
"Man, it was a grind. And of course, JT and Dame hit me up, I feel like I'm the Achilles guy. I mean, a lot of guys have bounced back and became themselves again. Mine's just the most popular, but I feel like a lot of guys have bounced back that I took inspiration from when I was going through my journey."
"But those guys are cut from a cloth, they’re rare. They’re rare individuals anyway. So this is just a little stoppage in their, you know, in their journey that they’re just going to have to sit down and lock in on."
"And it’s easy. I think it'll be easy for them to lock in once they truly grasp that like, I'm going to be out for a year. And I think that takes, initially, that takes a few weeks for you to truly understand. It’s probably their first time in their whole lives they got to sit down and not play sport. They physically can't play. That’s probably the first time they’ve had to go through that."
"You can either elevate or drown, in my opinion. And I think both of those dudes have shown you time and time again that they're going to continue to elevate as individuals and as players."
"But it's a grind, man. Like, you seen me every day. You seen me. It was a grind. You still have to rehab. I'm still doing some of the stuff that I was doing in that rehab. So, it's going to be, your game and your body are going to for sure change."
"And I’ve been telling people: with Dame, he shoots a lot of those deep threes. When you tear your Achilles, your calf muscle goes to nothing. You sit around for three months and you can’t move your calf."
"It's, cuz if you look at mine now, I wish I could show people, my right is smaller than my left. But that's just from not using it for those four or five months. It completely shut down. So most of the work is getting that calf back. You got to get it bigger and stronger."
"So I think that's going to be the adjustment for them. And those deep threes that both of those guys shoot, they shoot a lot of tough step-back threes."
"I was shooting those before I got injured. And I fine-tuned my game to take some of that stuff out, the side-step, not because it's a bad shot, but because I didn’t truly have enough power in my right leg yet in order for me to do those moves."
"So it’s going to be that type of adjustment for guys coming back from Achilles, just building that power up. Once you get confidence, cuz I just threw myself out there too. I was hooping as soon as I could hoop, I was playing, you know?"
"So once they just throw themselves out there, man, them dudes going to be all right, man. I can’t wait to see them bounce back."
And this year, that lonely road has become a congested highway. So far in the 2025 calendar year alone, a staggering eight NBA players have torn their Achilles, including superstars Jayson Tatum, Tyrese Haliburton, and Damian Lillard during the playoffs.
The sudden spike is alarming. For context, from 1990 to 2023, only 45 Achilles tears were recorded in the NBA. This season alone accounts for nearly 20% of that total. Throw in serious ACL injuries to names like Kyrie Irving and Dejounte Murray, and the league is facing an unprecedented injury crisis among its top-tier talent.
With 12 total major injuries, including eight Achilles tears and several ACLs, the league is entering a medical reckoning. Minutes management, scheduling demands, and recovery protocols are under scrutiny, but players still need each other.
In the absence of guaranteed protection from injury, wisdom becomes the greatest currency. And Durant has that in abundance.
What KD has been able to do after his Achilles injury is nothing short of remarkable, averaging 27.9 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game since returning. He has redefined himself but remains arguably the deadliest scorer in NBA history, a living blueprint of how to not just return, but still dominate.
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