Head coach Mark Daigneault has confirmed what was expected — Oklahoma City Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo will miss the remainder of the first half of the season.
Diallo has had groin soreness since suffering an injury against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday. He was initially ruled out for two games, and even at that point Daigneault acknowledged that he might not return until after the break.
At this point, there are only two more games left before the week off.
“It’s just too smart to just give him these two games, plus all that time, to try to get him back to as close to 100%,” Daigneault said.
The All-Star break is scheduled for March 5-10. The events will take place March 7.
By the time the Thunder resume play on March 11, Diallo will have had two full weeks without any games.
This break is needed for Diallo, the team and the entire league, Daigneault said. The Thunder’s schedule has been full of every-other-night games, and it largely remains that way in the second half — including an even more intense start with three games in four nights.
“If you look at the schedule — and we learned this lesson from the first half — there’s a compounding effect to the condensed schedule and the amount of games in a short period of time,” Daigneault said. “If a guy is going out there at 80%, it’s not like it’s going to go up from there.”
Diallo is having what is by far the best season of his career. He has career-highs in scoring, rebounding, assists and shooting percentages, and he’s shooting efficiently from 2 as well, particularly at the rim. He has been one of the better sixth men in the league this season.
Oklahoma City wraps up the first half of the season with a game against the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday and the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.
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