Saying "I'm Good" Durant Will Play Tonight

By Randy Renner

Thunder superstar Kevin Durant surprised most of us, actually probably all of us, when he walked over to a rather small gathering of local reporters and announced, "I'm good and I'm looking forward to coming out tonight."

Coming out tonight and playing against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Durant hadn't gone through practice in a few days but told us he fully participated in this morning's shootaround then he was seen meeting with Thunder team physician Dr. Donnie Strack. Apparently they both agreed Durant would be a go for the game.

"I shouldn't have play at Memphis," Durant admitted adding, "I think I made it worse. But these last four or five days I was able to get some good treatment in and rest it a little bit and be able to play tonight."

It's great news for Thunder fans who may have been wondering if the injury was much worse than originally thought and Durant said this one was particularly tough to deal with.

"It's probably the worst one I've had (of his three injuries this season). My foot I didn't feel anything until I had surgery, my ankle didn't feel as bad as this toe because you use it so much. It's such a small part of you but it can affect your whole body. It was tough for me to get through it I wanted to play so bad and I'm glad I can get back and help out as much as I can."

Durant seemed very upbeat during his chat with reporters and very excited to be back out on the floor working with his teammates.

"I wasn't a part of practices and shootarounds and I didn't travel last game (to New Orleans) and I just wanted to be around it. I just felt like something was gonna change for us. I could see it in the huddles, watching it on TV, the enthusiasm and how much we fought for each other, I just wanted to be a part of it."

Durant feels like he's not rushing things now and that he is comfortable with how his toe is feeling and how it will handle the stress and strain of a game.

Barring some sort of last minute problem when KD warms up before the game tonight, he will be back in the starting lineup after missing four games with that sprained toe.