With ankle injury, Kevin Durant expected to miss Rockets-Lakers Game 6
It appears Kevin Durant will miss his fifth playoff game (out of six) when the Rockets and Lakers meet in Friday’s Game 6 from Houston.
With Kevin Durant sidelined due to an ankle injury, the Rockets have won consecutive games to climb back to within 3-2 in their first-round playoff series against the Lakers. And in Friday’s Game 6 at home, as Houston looks to tie the series against Los Angeles and force a decisive Game 7, it appears they will again be without Durant for a fifth time in six games. Per Shams Charania of ESPN : Sources told Charania that Durant's injury generally carries a minimum two-week timetable for returning to play.
Durant suffered the injury on April 21, which was 12 days before a potential Game 7 in this series. The Rockets have not ruled out Durant for the entirety of the series, and Sunday’s Game 7 is close enough to that two-week checkpoint that there might be a window for the All-Star forward to play at that time. However, Friday’s Game 6 isn’t even to the week-and-a-half mark.
Durant is dealing with both a sprain and a bone bruise to his left ankle, which he suffered late in Game 2 — the only game he’s played in this series. 🚨 BREAKING NEWS: @ShamsCharania reports that Kevin Durant will miss Game 6 in the Rockets-Lakers series ⬇️ pic. twitter.
com/3DsNOoGfTU — Get Up (@GetUpESPN) April 30, 2026 Including Game 6, Durant will have missed five playoff games (and counting) due to injury after missing only one in the entire 2025-26 regular season. With their leading scorer unavailable, the Rockets will continue to start their “young core” starting lineup of Amen Thompson, Reed Sheppard, Tari Eason, Jabari Smith Jr. , and Alperen Sengun.