Thunder big man Aleksej Pokusevski has suffered a non-displaced tibial plateau fracture in his left leg and will be reevaluated in six-to-eight weeks, the team announced.
Pokusevski, who just turned 21 on Monday, sustained the injury in Tuesday’s victory over San Antonio. Through 31 games, including 25 starts (21.8 minutes), he’s averaging 8.8 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.3 blocks on .440/.376/.636 shooting.
The young Serbian struggled with efficiency and defense in his first two seasons, but he had started to figure out the speed of the NBA game in 2022/23 prior to getting injured. He has played almost exclusively center this season after previously floating between multiple frontcourt positions.
As a former first-round pick (17th overall in 2020) now in his third year, Pokusevski will be eligible for a rookie scale extension in the offseason.
With Pokusevski and Jeremiah Robinson-Earl (ankle) sidelined, Darius Bazley and Mike Muscala should see an uptick in minutes for the Thunder.
Whew I almost picked him up in fantasy, glad TJ Warren was available instead.
That. HAS. To. Hurt.