Thunder's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Placed in NBA's Concussion Protocols

The Oklahoma City Thunder announced guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was placed in the NBA's concussion protocol after he suffered the injury during Wednesday's loss to the Houston Rockets.

Gilgeous-Alexander, 23, has steadily improved since being selected with the 11th pick in the 2018 draft, and he shone in a more expansive ball-handling role for OKC last season, averaging career highs in points (23.7 per game), assists (5.9), shooting percentage (50.8) and three-point percentage (41.8).

His potential breakout year ended after just 35 games because of a foot injury, though.

He's put up 21.2 points, 5.1 boards and 4.5 dimes per game during the 2021-22 campaign.

The Thunder are likely to use a committee approach to fill the void. Ty Jerome, Tre Mann and Theo Maledon should all see time running the offense.

Oklahoma City is in the midst of a rebuilding phase, so it's likely to play it safe with one of its key building blocks whenever he deals with injuries in the short term. He will slot back into a high-volume role whenever he's back to full strength.