Warriors forward Kevin Durant is on the verge of full-contact scrimmaging, a key step in his recovery from a strained right calf.

Durant, who hasn’t played since May 8, has increased his individual on-court work in recent days. The Warriors aren’t expected to practice Thursday, but they hope to have Durant scrimmage with some of the team’s assistant coaches and younger players.

If Durant completes that with no issues, he’ll have a chance to play Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Friday. Warriors head coach Steve Kerr has intimated that Durant could return after only one scrimmage.

“He’s got to continue to improve and not have any setbacks,” Kerr said before Game 3 on Wednesday. “That’s the main thing. So, we’ll go from there.”

Since Durant got injured in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals in Houston, the Warriors have gone 7-1. His return would be a major boost to a frontcourt that lost center Kevon Looney in Game 2 on Sunday for the rest of the Finals to a nondisplaced first costal cartilage fracture.

In 11 playoff games before the injury, Durant was averaging 34.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.2 steals. One of the Warriors’ better defenders, he would be a solid option on the Raptors’ Pascal Siakam and Kawhi Leonard.

Connor Letourneau is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: cletourneau@sfchronicle.com. Twitter: @Con_Chron