D.J. White Out for the Season?
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The team announced tonight that rookie forward D.J. White’s injured jaw will require surgery, forcing him to miss four to six months.
White will undergo surgery next week when the team returns to Oklahoma City following the current West Coast road trip. According to the team, White has a benign growth in his jaw and doctors must take a bone graft from his hip to mend the bone in his jaw.
White accompanied the team on the road trip and is participating in light contact drills but hasn’t practiced since the start of training camp.
Throughout the past week the team expected to be without White, but the four to six month window is longer than anyone expected. What it means for the roster is the Thunder will be without two big men, White and Mo Sene, for an extended period of time. That puts even more pressure on Robert Swift (hand) to get healthy and return to practice and game action. Joe Smith (toenails) and Johan Petro (hamstring) also will need to stay healthy.
With Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison as the starters, and Smith and Petro coming off the bench, the Thunder has a solid rotation of bigs. But an injury to one of the bigs, or even early foul trouble, could really deal a sharp blow to the frontcourt.
Jeff Green is capable of playing power forward, but that’s not ideal for a prolonged stretch during games or throughout the season. The coaching staff wants to see Green at small forward more this year.
We’ll see if this latest bit of injury news makes GM Sam Presti go fishing for relief.
-DM-
Related posts:
- Desmond Mason Out For the Season
- Back at it
- Camp Observations: Day 5
- Thunder Recall D.J. White
- D.J. White Cleared To Play
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Go OKC Potatoes!!!