Kevin Durant has foot surgery; Thunder expects him back by playoffs

Kevin Durant had surgery Sunday to alleviate pain in his right foot, and the Oklahoma City Thunder expects him to return during the regular season.

A screw was replaced from his October operation for a broken bone in the right foot. Thunder General Manager Sam Presti said the star forward, last season’s NBA most valuable player, will be evaluated again within a week. Presti said the head of the original screw was rubbing against the cuboid bone in the foot, causing discomfort

Durant has played in just 27 games this season because of the broken foot, sprained right ankle and sprained left big toe. He said the right foot was sore after Thursday night’s game against Dallas.

“Yeah, it’s tough, but I’ll figure it out,” he said. “Just got to get through it, keep getting treatment, and talk to trainers tomorrow to see what we can do to make it better.”

Presti said the rubbing has not created nothing more than discomfort with the cuboid bone, and there is not a new injury. He said transferring to a different screw would not be possible if the initial injury had not been healing properly. \

“While he’s on the floor and playing through the soreness, he’s in no way putting at risk the initial injury,” Presti said. “Otherwise, he would not have been on the floor.”

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The New Orleans Pelicans said All-Star forward Anthony Davis, the NBA’s fourth-leading scorer, is expected to be out up to two weeks because of a right shoulder sprain, while fellow forward Ryan Anderson is expected to miss up to four weeks with a right knee sprain. Both were injured in the first quarter of Saturday’s game at Miami. . . .

The Boston Celtics said forward Jared Sullinger will miss the rest of the season because of a broken bone in his left foot. . . . The Denver Nuggets waived Thomas Robinson and Victor Claver, two of the players they acquired in a deal that sent Arron Afflalo to Portland at the trade deadline.