Thunder Rookie Josh Giddey Out Monday with Injury: ‘He Could Miss Some Time’
Oklahoma City’s star rookie Josh Giddey is set to miss Monday’s contest versus the Sacramento Kings due to hip soreness.
Monday’s will make it back-to-back missed games for Giddey.
In the media session for Sunday’s practice, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said that Giddey “could miss some time,” with the injury. "That could be longer than tomorrow."
Daigneault gave no updates on the injury status of Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams, Mike Muscala or Ty Jerome.
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Giddey is averaging 12.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 6.4 assists on the season. Previous to Thursday’s return to action against the Suns, Giddey recorded three-straight triple-doubles.
Following Thursday's game, the team talked at length about Giddey's potential on ball. Coach Daigneault said that Giddey will be playing on-ball more by design, leaving star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander off-ball.
With Giddey sidelined, Gilgeous-Alexander fluidly stepped back into the primary ball-handler role, scoring 36 points versus the Pacers on Friday.
The injury, should he miss a significant amount of time, is a potentially staggering blow to his rookie of the year campaign.
Giddey wasn’t the frontrunner, but he had played solidly enough to remain in the conversation, and needed strong play down to stretch to make a run at the award.
Despite Giddey’s absence, Oklahoma City manufactured an overtime win over Indiana on Friday off the backs of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, rookie Tre Mann, and a slew of other contributors.
Mann poured on 22 points and Darius Bazley finished with a productive 14 points and ten boards.
Oklahoma City will face Sacramento at 6 p.m. in Paycom Arena.
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