KD has calf strain, to be reevaluated next week - ESPN

4:12 PM ET

Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant has a mild right calf strain, will not travel with the team to Houston and will be re-evaluated next week, the team announced Thursday.

The Warriors lead the Houston Rockets 3-2 heading into Game 6 of the Western Conference semifinal series on Friday (ESPN, 9 p.m. ET). If Golden State can't close out the series, Game 7 will be Sunday (ABC, 3:30 p.m. ET).

The injury occured with 2:11 left in the third quarter of Game 5 on Wednesday night as Durant went up for a jumper over Rockets swingman Iman Shumpert. Durant did not appear to make contact with Shumpert, but after landing, he took a few steps up the court, then clutched his right leg. He limped toward the Rockets' bench, and after a few moments, he went straight to the Warriors' locker room, accompanied by trainers and general manager Bob Myers.

Durant had an MRI on Thursday.

Warriors coach Steve Kerr and guard Stephen Curry noted that Durant was understandably down after the injury, but there was a palpable sense of relief within the locker room that his injury wasn't more severe. Initially, players and coaches feared that Durant tore his Achilles tendon, but Kerr was told by the Warriors' medical staff that that was not the case.

With Durant out for an indefinite amount of time, Curry acknowledged Wednesday that the Warriors would have to go back to how they played four years ago, before Golden State acquired its star forward.

"Whoever has the ball, no matter if it's off a pick-and-roll, we swing, make the defense work, make decisions on that end of the floor," Curry said. "We still have a lot of weapons and can create good offense through that type of attack.

"At the end of the day, everything that we do starts with our defense. That gave us a chance to win down the stretch with how hard we played on that end of the floor. Just subtle changes that happen when you don't have those playcalls that gets K in the right spot to take advantage of his talent. We'll tap into that for however long he's out."

ESPN's Nick Friedell contributed to this report.

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