On the same day that Kevin Durant was shut down for the foreseeable future due to experiencing continued soreness as he was trying to work his way back from a foot fracture, the Thunder learned that yet another of their players had suffered an injury that will cause him to miss some time.
Nick Collison may seem irrelevant to some, but he’s an important cog overall in the OKC machine. And after suffering an ankle sprain in Friday night’s win over the Hawks, he’s now been ruled out for the rest of the month, and is the latest Thunder player to be unwillingly thrown onto the ever-growing injury pile.
From Randy Renner of InsideThunder.com (via HoopsHype):Thunder backup forward and first team glue guy Nick Collison will miss “at least 10 days,” with a sprained left ankle according to Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. “He’ll be out until sometime in April.”
“There’s that saying, if you don’t laugh, you’re gonna cry, sometimes I feel like crying,” Brooks said.
Collison was finishing up one of his best games of the season Friday night against Atlanta when he rolled his left ankle.
“I don’t feel very good right now,” Collison told reporters after OKC’s thrilling win over the Hawks. He left the arena in a walking boot and on crutches.
The Thunder’s net rating is affected by just +0.2 with Collison on the floor compared to when he’s off, so something tells me they’ll survive.
But this just adds to the ridiculous amount of injuries Oklahoma City has experienced this season.
Anthony Slater of The Oklahoman:
Is that a lot? It seems like a lot.
The Thunder may very well make the playoffs in spite of all of this, thanks to Phoenix fading and the way the schedule shakes out. But the road to the postseason just got a little tougher with yet another rotation player sidelined due to injury.
