If any doubt remained over how best to handle an NBA player with a foot injury, the example of Kevin Durant over the past few months should end the discussion.
The reigning MVP soon will have bone-graft surgery on his right foot.
This comes after surgery in February to alleviate lingering soreness after an October operation to insert a screw in that same right foot.
After the first two surgeries, Durant hurried back to competition, or tried to.
He missed barely six weeks after the October operation and played 30 minutes in his first game back.
After the second surgery, Thunder officials were talking about him returning in a few weeks.
Only when the pain and immobility lingered did Durant and the club concede he could not go on. NBA fans will hope the bone graft, and four to six months off his feet, will be enough for him to make a full recovery.
Fans sometimes forget the quick and nimble Durant is taller than many centres, putting him at the same sort of foot-injury risk other big men face: too much weight, too much stress on delicate bones in the foot.
The careers of numerous great or potentially great players have been shortened by continuous foot injuries. Bill Walton and Yao Ming are the most prominent, but the list includes failed top picks Sam Bowie and Greg Oden.
Still, the NBA until recently was just another sports league that praised players who returned from injury at the earliest moment and played in pain.
The case of Durant, perhaps the greatest player yet to have his career put at risk by foot injuries, should prompt all clubs to proceed with extreme caution.
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