In the second quarter of the Monday night game against the Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was briefly subbed out after he showed a limp. He returned to the game a minute later after getting checked by medical staff and finished with 29 minutes played in the blowout loss.
The next day, however, he was stiff and sore in the knee. Gilgeous-Alexander was ruled out of the Wednesday rematch against the Rockets with a left knee sprain.
“We’re exercising caution, as we always do,” head coach Mark Daigneault said. “He obviously finished the game the other night, so it’s nothing really serious. We just need to see how he responds to treatment.”
Daigneault said the injury isn’t serious and that the tests were clean. He didn’t place a timetable on a return.
The coach said Gilgeous-Alexander felt good during the game on Monday and wanted to return, which is why he went back in so quickly.
During the game, Daigneault thought Gilgeous-Alexander looked fine.
“I didn’t notice after halftime him favoring it,” he said. “It was more of how he responded afterward.”
The third-year guard will not play against the Rockets on Wednesday. In his place in the lineup will be Hamidou Diallo, who will start next to Theo Maledon, as George Hill is also out with injury.
Gilgeous-Alexander, who finished the game Monday with 19 points, is averaging 21.8 points, 6.3 assists and 5.3 rebounds per game.
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