Devastating Injury News for Oklahoma City

If the OKC Thunder had any hopes of finding their way in through the backdoor of the playoff picture, those may have been dashed on Wednesday night as they announced Shai Gorgeous-Alexander will miss "significant time". SGA has been the Thunder's best player by a mile, averaging a team-high 23.7 ppg, 5.9 apg & 33.7 mpg to go along 4.7 rpg, 0.8 spg & 0.7 bpg on a ultra-efficient 50.8% FG & 41.8% 3P.

Thunder HC Mark Daigneault says Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will miss a “significant amount of time” with a foot injury pic.twitter.com/Y1fmdxJ7xV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) March 25, 2021

SGA has been diagnosed with Plantar Fasciitis, which is a nasty injury for basketball players, as it causes stabbing pain in the heel, making it increasingly difficult for players to get up and down the court. It's the same injury that hobbled Miami's Goran Dragic last year in the NBA Finals, which significantly impacted the competitiveness of the series.

Now sitting at 19-25 after Wednesday night's 116-107 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies, the Thunder face a steep and difficult road to get into the extended playoff format, as the Grizzlies are one of the teams the Thunder are trying to track down.

At this point, it's safe to say the without SGA the Thunder are looking at the lottery for next season.

Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports