Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Out for Thunder vs. Lakers with Knee Injury
The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without their leading scorer for Wednesday's matchup with the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet, point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will not play because of a left knee injury. Kenrich Williams is expected to start in his place.
Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 22.6 points, 6.5 assists and 5.5 rebounds per game for the 10-13 Thunder.
The Kentucky product is coming off one of the best performances of his season in Monday's overtime loss to the Lakers. He finished with 29 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds while connecting on four of his eight attempts from beyond the arc. Gilgeous-Alexander also went toe-to-toe with LeBron James in crunch time of regulation and forced overtime with three free throws in the final seconds.
His confidence appeared to grow with every play, and Wednesday figured to be an opportunity to build on his showing against the same high-profile opponent. Alas, OKC will need to figure out a way to generate offense without its All-Star candidate against the defending champions.
That will be a daunting challenge considering nobody else on the team is averaging more than 13.7 points per game. Much of the supporting cast's production comes from Gilgeous-Alexander's ability to facilitate when he draws additional defenders in, which leads to open looks on the perimeter for the surrounding shooters.
The Thunder are also without Theo Maledon and George Hill and will be limited when it comes to ball-handling.
