Oklahoma City Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski departed the game against the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday due to a hip injury, the rookie confirmed after the game.
“I just fell down when I tried to dunk. I had an offensive foul, I fell down on my butt,” he said.
The way he said that makes it sound a lot more casual than the play itself was. Less than five minutes into the game, Pokusevski’s defender went for a steal in the backcourt. The forward got around and put on a burst of speed to drive into the lane. He rose up for what would have been an absolutely insane dunk.
Poku is going to make me take heart pills tonight. pic.twitter.com/exIa1Hydqn
— Spencer Percy (@QCHspencer) April 8, 2021
He couldn’t quite get it to go and got called for the charge. He played through the game with the nagging pain and actually had his best game of the season, posting 25 points and setting a Thunder rookie high with 7 3-pointers.
After the game, Pokusevski said he felt fine. From the way head coach Mark Daigneault described it, it does not sound like the forward will miss the Thursday night game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“It just kind of got to a point there that if there was any chance of having him for tomorrow, we thought it was best to get him off when he did,” Daigneault said. “We’ll see how he’s feeling in the morning and take it from there.”
The Thunder will evaluate him on Thursday morning, but from what Daigneault said and the fact that he was available for a press conference after the game is a positive sign.
Oklahoma City lost to the Hornets 113-102. Tipoff against the Cavaliers on Thursday is scheduled for 7 p.m.
This post originally appeared on OKCThunderWire. Follow us on Facebook!