Oklahoma City Thunder forward Aleksej Pokusevski departed the game on Saturday against the Philadelphia 76ers about 8 1/2 minutes into the first quarter due to right arm soreness he was feeling before the game.
After the 117-93 loss, head coach Mark Daigneault said Pokusevski tried to play through the injury.
“He had a little bit of discomfort before game. Tried to give it a go, wasn’t a night for it. We’ll evaluate him in morning like we always do,” Daigneault said.
It was a relatively similar situation to two games prior, when Pokusevski injured his hip when he took a fall in the first quarter of the matchup against the Charlotte Hornets. He played through it for most the game before being pulled in the fourth quarter.
The rookie did not miss the game the following night against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“We weren’t quite sure how he was going to respond to that physically, and he got himself to the court on the second night of a back-to-back, which was a positive thing for a 19-year-old that’s playing a lot of minutes and carrying a pretty heavy load right now,” Daigneault said.
Similarly, Pokusevski tried to play through the arm pain on Saturday. He missed both shots he attempted, ending the game scoreless in under nine minutes of play.
The severity of the injury was unclear Saturday night, but he will have some time to rest the arm before the next Thunder game, which is Tuesday against the Utah Jazz.
“We’ve got two days before our next game, so hopefully he’s in a better place,” Daigneault said.
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