Jerami Grant Could See More Minutes vs. Thunder
The Oklahoma City Thunder will wrap up their four-game road trip tonight when they visit the Denver Nuggets. First, the bad news, Terrance Ferguson will miss his fifth consecutive game due to hip soreness. According to Maddie Lee of the Oklahoman Billy Donovan says Ferguson is making progress. As much as the Thunder may want Ferguson back, Abdel Nader is giving them reasons not to rush Ferguson's rehab. In his last five games, Nader has gone 9 of 17 scoring 25 points and logging 61 minutes of action.
Hamidou Diallo is also out tonight with a hyperextended right elbow. He has been getting some work in with assistant coach David Akinyooe. Dovan says that Diallo needs to do a thorough job with his rehab and do what "he needs to do to get himself healthy." Donovan also says there is plenty of time for the coaching staff to be around Diallo as they make tweaks to what they are doing.
As for the Nuggets forward, Paul Millsap is listed as questionable with a right quadriceps strain. Millsap suffered the strain in Denver's win over the Trailblazers Thursday night. If Millsap doesn't play tonight, then Jerami Grant could start.
Grant played 30 minutes vs. Portland scoring 20 points. The former Thunder forward has gone from averaging 13.6 last season points per game to averaging 9.7 this year. His three-point shooting percentage is about the same, hovering around 39 percent.
The Thunder starts the day as the 7th seed western conference. Oklahoma City is 2-1 on this current road trip and 6-4 in their last 10 games.
Tipoff is at eight on Fox Sports Oklahoma, 98.1 WWLS, and 97.1 The Sports Animal Tulsa.
