Everytime that Kevin Durant y LeBron James face each other, it is an unmissable spectacle. However, in recent years that duel has essentially been impossible to observe for fans of the league.
Both Durant and James are unique talents. That two players of this caliber can share almost 16 seasons it feels too good to be true. And in recent years, he has been. And it is that when the Suns face the Lakers, this Wednesday March 22they will have passed 1,548 days (and counting) since the two met on an NBA court.
they did not in preseasonwhere the Lakers faced Durant’s Nets twice in 2019. Neither in the Regular Phase, where the teams of Durant and James have collided a total of 11 times since their last meeting. Less in the All-Star Game. And neither in the Playoffsthough the likelihood of that happening has increased with KD’s return to the Western Conference.
The last time Durant and James met was Christmas 2018. KD was in his final season with the Warriors and James was riding first with the Lakers.
Long before Durant’s plans to go to Brooklyn materialized, it seemed the rivalry had opened a new chapter, when the Lakers defeated the Warriorsdespite James left early with a groin injury that derailed his first campaign in Los Angeles.
That injury to James made the new stage of the rivalry end the same day it began. And more than four years later, the next chapter remains unwritten.
Las injuries have been the biggest culprits in this streak of bad luck heralded by James’ departure in 2018. Less than six months later, Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles tendon that sidelined him for the entire 2019-2020 season. And since then, there are already 17 occasions in which their teams faced each other without one of the two available.
The lost games of the duel LeBron James vs. Kevin Durant
| Date | Broken | Outside | Reason | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | January 21, 2019 | Lakers vs. Warriors | James | groin tear |
| 2 | February 2, 2019 | Warriors vs. Lakers | James | groin tear |
| 3 | April 4, 2019 | Lakers vs. Warriors | James | groin tear |
| 4 | October 10, 2019 | Lakers vs. Nets (Preseason) | Durant | Achilles tendon |
| 5 | October 12, 2019 | net vs. Lakers (Preseason) | Durant | Achilles tendon |
| 6 | January 23, 2020 | Nets vs. Lakers | Durant | Achilles tendon |
| 7 | March 10, 2020 | Lakers vs. Nets | Durant | Achilles tendon |
| 8 | February 18, 2021 | Lakers vs. Nets | Durant | Left hamstring tear |
| 9 | March 7, 2021 | Team LeBron vs. Team Durant | Durant | Left hamstring tear |
| 10 | April 10, 2021 | Nets vs. Lakers | James | Right ankle sprain |
| 11 | December 25, 2021 | Lakers vs. Nets | Durant | Health and safety protocols |
| 12 | January 25, 2022 | Nets vs. Lakers | Durant | Left knee sprain |
| 13 | February 20, 2022 | Team Durant vs. Team LeBron | Durant | Left knee sprain |
| 14 | November 13, 2022 | Nets vs.Lakers | James | Left adductor tear |
| 15 | January 30, 2023 | Lakers vs. Nets | Durant and James | Knee (Durant) and ankle (James) |
| 16 | February 19, 2023 | Team LeBron vs. Team Giannis | Durant | Left knee sprain |
| 17 | March 22, 2023 | Lakers vs. Suns | Durant and James | Tobillo (Durant), Pie (James) |
