Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook suffered a fracture in his hand against the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday night and now he will be out indefinitely, joining superstar Kevin Durant as injured players for OKC and those two losses are huge for the team as they try and get back to the NBA finals.
According to ESPN.com, Westbrook came down with a small fracture of the second metacarpal in his right hand in the game against the Clippers and the injury was diagnosed after x-rays were taken in Los Angeles. Westbrook will be re-evaluated by the team on Friday and after leaving the game he was back on the bench with ice on his hand, but he never re-entered the matchup. Westbrook ended up with two points and four assists in the game for the Thunder, playing in just nine minutes.
Westbrook injured his hand while going up for a rebound and he made contact with Kendrick Perkins and he appeared to be in some pain after bumping into his elbow. The Thunder were already playing with nine players in the game with Kevin Durant, Reggie Jackson and Jeremy Lamb out for the game and it went down to eight with Westbrook getting hurt. Durant is out for at least a couple months with his injury and now the Thunder will have to find a way to keep things going without their two stars in the starting lineup.
The Thunder are in a tough position, but ESPN.com writes that they will be looking to use the NBA hardship exemption, which would allow them to add another player to the roster. The team will have four players out with injuries of at least two weeks with Durant, Grant Jerrett, Mitch McGary and Anthony Morrow and now Westbrook and that could allow them to get some support. The team can apply after three games with Westbrook being out and that will come after the game against the Denver Nuggets on Saturday and that means a couple more games with just a small group of players.
The Thunder have been one of the most consistent teams in the NBA over the past few years and now their depth will be greatly tested with Westbrook and Durant both out. Westbrook could miss a chunk of time with his injury and that will put Perry Jones in a starting role along with Sebastian Telfair. The team has dealt with an injury to Westbrook before, as he was out for part of last season after getting knee surgery, but Durant was healthy for that time period.
