Kevin Durant ruled out as Rockets face Lakers in must-win Game 5

With a left ankle sprain and bone bruising, All-Star forward Kevin Durant will miss his third straight playoff game when the Rockets visit the Lakers on Wednesday night. He is listed on Houston’s injury report as out. Houston trails the best-of-seven, first-round playoff series by a 3-1 margin.

Los Angeles could advance to the second round with a Game 5 victory, while the Rockets are hoping to force a Game 6 on Friday night. With Durant unavailable, the Rockets will likely stick with their “young core” starting lineup of Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr. , and Alperen Sengun, which won them Sunday’s Game 4 .

The Rockets have not ruled Durant out for the remainder of the series, but Wednesday’s Game 5 was probably a bit too early for a potential return. The original injury occurred a week ago on Tuesday, April 21, and ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that it would normally require a two-to-three-week recovery period in the regular season. While that timeline could perhaps be expedited some in the playoffs, bringing it down to eight days is likely unrealistic.

Friday’s potential Game 6 and Sunday’s hypothetical Game 7 would be 10 and 12 days after the original injury date, respectively, and that would be much closer to the short end (14 days) of the timetable laid out by Charania. At Tuesday’s team practice in Houston, Durant worked off to the side on an anti-gravity treadmill, which allows him to maintain conditioning while still limiting the pressure applied to his injured ankle. #Rockets HC Ime Udoka update on Kevin Durant, who was at the facility while the team practiced before leaving for game 5.