TORONTO — Kevin Durant had a screw inserted into his right foot back in October 2014, the initial surgical remedy for a bothersome Jones fracture.



But the screw eventually became an irritant. In February of that season, Durant began experiencing in-game pain. The screw was rubbing against his cuboid bone. The reason had yet to be discovered, but the discomfort was obvious.



Durant attempted to power through the pain. He played a pair of home games, against the Grizzlies and Mavericks, limping in transition for parts of each night, once taking his shoe off during a timeout to rub the side of his foot. Eventually, late in the Mavericks game, he turned to Scott Brooks and told him: “I can’t move.”



The Thunder shut him down. They discovered the issue with the screw. He had a second surgery, replacing it, and later a third, this time a bone graft procedure ending his season.



But go back to those two games on a bad wheel. He was...