Kevin Durant ruled out as Rockets face Lakers in must-win Game 5

While that timeline could perhaps be expedited some in the playoffs, bringing it down to eight days is likely unrealistic. Friday’s potential Game 6 and Sunday’s hypothetical Game 7 would be 10 and 12 days after the original injury date, respectively, and that would be much closer to the short end (14 days) of the timetable laid out by Charania.

At Tuesday’s team practice in Houston, Durant worked off to the side on an anti-gravity treadmill, which allows him to maintain conditioning while still limiting the pressure applied to his injured ankle.

Head coach Ime Udoka said Tuesday that Durant will need to go through at least some on-court activities to return, and that has yet to occur since the injury.

So, if the Rockets can again stave off elimination in Durant’s absence, they can revisit his situation prior to Friday’s Game 6 at home.

It remains to be seen whether Durant will travel to Los Angeles for Game 5. He could stay behind to work at team facilities in Houston and minimize air travel, or perhaps he’ll want to be on the bench to support his teammates (as was the case in Game 4 but not for Game 3).

Factoring in Game 5, Durant will have missed four of Houston’s five playoff games. (He also missed Game 1 due to an unrelated right knee bruise.)

In the regular season, Durant missed the same amount of games (four) out of 82 — and three of the four were for non-injury reasons. To say the least, it’s brutal timing for a team that hasn’t had much injury luck all season long.

More: ‘Very tough’: Rockets, Kevin Durant lament ill-timed playoff injuries

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Kevin Durant ruled out as Rockets face Lakers in must-win Game 5