Reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant is expected to miss about a month of the new season after having surgery on his broken right foot.
Durant told Oklahoma Thunder officials on Saturday he had pain in the foot, and an examination revealed a broken bone at the base of the small toe.
He underwent surgery on Thursday and the Thunder expect Durant to miss little more than the first month of the 2014-15 season, which starts on October 28.
Durant averaged 32 points, 7.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists a game last season, sparking the Thunder to the Western Conference finals, where they were eliminated by the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs.
Durant, who guided Oklahoma City into the 2012 NBA Finals, where the Thunder were beaten by the Miami Heat, set an Olympic scoring record with 19.5 points a game in 2012 and added 5.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals a game to spark the Americans to gold at London.
Durant helped the United States win the 2010 world title, but pulled out of this year's World Cup squad in August citing mental and physical exhaustion.
After winning last season's scoring crown, he joined Michael Jordan, Wilt Chamberlain and George Gervin as the only players to win four NBA scoring titles in five years.
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