Rockets star Kevin Durant was sidelined for Game 1 of the Lakers-Rockets first-round playoff series because of a right knee injury.
Rockets coach Ime Udoka said pregame that Durant suffered the right knee contusion that held him out of Saturday’s matchup in Los Angeles after bumping the knee during Wednesday’s practice in Houston.
“Hopefully, it’s a one-game thing,” Udoka said.
Game 2 is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.
Durant was the Rockets’ leading scorer for the 2025-26 season, averaging 26 points in 76 games.
Udoka said Durant’s injury was “nothing major” after his knee was evaluated ahead of Saturday’s game.
“It’s very tender,” Udoka added. “Tough to bend in certain ways. Not a lot of swelling, but in a very awkward spot, I guess, more than anything. Right above the knee, patella tendon area. It’s just very tender. Like I said, pain tolerance is one thing, but actually limited movement is more of the cause.”
The Rockets started Reed Sheppard, Amen Thompson, Josh Okogie, Jabari Smith Jr. and Alperen Sengun for Game 1 in light of Durant’s absence.
“We do go nine- or 10-deep depending on who starts for us,” Udoka said. “And we had a rotating fifth starter all year, so I feel very comfortable playing certain guys. With the guys in and out of lineups at times this year, we’ve gone to a lot of different bodies. So, very comfortable. We don’t want to go eight only. We like to go nine or so, but if need be, we have 10-11 quality players we feel comfortable with. We’ll see what the rotation looks like now with Kevin out.”
The Lakers were without star guards Austin Reaves (strained left oblique muscle) and Luka Doncic (strained left hamstring), the latter of whom returned to the United States on Friday after being in Europe the previous two weeks, getting special treatment in Spain with the hopes of expediting his return to the court.
Doncic arrived at the arena about 40 minutes before tipoff.
“I talked to him yesterday when he landed,” coach JJ Redick said. “He’s in good spirits, and we’re excited to see him.”
