Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter left Thursday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks after punching a chair on the sidelines. We’re to assume that Kanter was frustrated about his play on the court, which included four points and three turnovers in nine minutes in the Thunder’s 109-98 win.
Here’s video of the punch and Kanter then holding his arm:
At first, reports were that the right-handed Kanter suffered a right wrist injury:
The Thunder are saying Kanter won't return tonight because of a right wrist injury.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 27, 2017
That was followed by The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting it’s a broken right hand for Kanter:
After punching a chair on bench tonight, there's a fear OKC's Enes Kanter fractured his right hand, league sources tell @TheVertical.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 27, 2017
And that was followed by Thunder head coach Billy Donovan telling the media that it’s a broken forearm for Kanter:
Billy Donovan confirms it's a right forearm fracture for Enes Kanter. No timetable as of now.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 27, 2017
Donovan said he wants to speak with Kanter before commenting on how the injury was sustained.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 27, 2017
Wojnarowski reports that the injury is expected to sideline Kanter for six to eight weeks:
Oklahoma City center Enes Kanter sustained a fractured forearm after punching a chair on the Thunder’s bench on Thursday night, a self-inflicted injury that could sideline him six to eight weeks, league sources told The Vertical.
And while breaking either forearm would be bad, this is still a nice reminder to not punch things with your shooting/throwing hand as an athlete, as Crash Davis (Kevin Costner) explained in Bull Durham:
Kanter, 24, is averaging 14.6 points and 6.8 rebounds for the Thunder this season. His 24.76 Player Efficiency Rating (PER) is the best among NBA centers.
So, this is a huge loss for Oklahoma City, and it’s asking Russell Westbrook to do even more, if that’s even possible for a guy that leads the NBA in scoring and is averaging a triple-double.
[The Vertical; Photo/Video: TNT]
