Surgery story: Doctor lashes out at Kevin Durant

Surgery story: Doctor lashes out at Kevin Durant.

One local physician who witnessed the sad incident firsthand believes the growing notion that Kevin Durant had his ruptured right Achilles tendon repaired by a New York surgeon despite the Warriors’ medical staff is untrue.

Having known Dr. Martin O’Malley for more than ten years, orthopedic foot and ankle physician Andrew Brief of New Jersey stated, “I knew he was coming [to New York].” On Wednesday, O’Malley repaired the tear in what Durant described as a “successful” operation on Instagram.

Brief remarked, “I mean, O’Malley operated on him before [the 2015 foot surgery].” “He is a consistent client. From the moment it occurred, it was how things were going to proceed.

Although it’s anticipated that Durant would miss a year, Brief noted that some sportsmen often take seven to nine months to recover before playing again. An anomaly, Wesley Matthews, sustained the identical injury in March 2015 and returned in less than seven months, just in time for the start of the next campaign. In 2013, it took Kobe Bryant eight months to get well. Some never come back, others require a year.

Brief claimed that as “techniques have improved” in surgery, “shorter incisions “indicate” a quicker healing period. He continued by saying that Durant, who turns 31 in September, shouldn’t let his age play a big role in how things unfold.

There had been rumors that Durant’s choice to play with O’Malley was a terrible reflection on Golden State’s medical team, who had managed his recovery from an early-May right calf strain and his Monday night return to the NBA Finals, which was cut short by the Achilles injury.

Only fueling the fires was the fact that O’Malley was also the Nets team doctor and had previously worked with the Knicks, two teams who are anticipated to be in the running to sign Durant as a free agency this summer. In a phone conversation with The Post just hours after Durant disclosed his surgery on Wednesday, Brief stated that O’Malley’s well-known standing in the field played a bigger role in the decision to select him as the physician.

Whether Durant should have returned a month after sustaining a calf strain—the severity of which was unknown—remains to be seen. After Game 5, General Manager Bob Myers stated that Durant’s choice to play was made “collaboratively,” and Brief stated that the Achilles tendon was more “vulnerable” to injury because of the position of the calf strain. Brief compared the recent injury setbacks experienced by Jed Lowrie of the Mets (hamstring) and Dellin Betances of the Yankees (lat strain) to Durant’s situation.