In their game on Thursday against the Dallas Mavericks, Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter assaulted one of the padded chairs on the team's bench, resulting in a fractured right ulna in his forearm. Kanter underwent surgery on Friday, putting him out of commission for 4+ weeks. Enes Kanter is the third leading scorer on this Thunder team averaging 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game despite coming off the bench for 21.6 minutes per game. Going without Enes Kanter for any extended period of time hurts the Thunder. Especially since they are currently in the middle of a dog fight with the Grizzlies, Jazz, and Clippers for the 4th seed in the Western Conference playoffs, which guarantees home court advantage in the first round.
Enes Kanter's primary value lies in his ability to score and produce points off the bench. He is one of the most offensively talented big men in the NBA, averaging 24.0 points per 36 minutes, which is second on the team behind Russell Westbrook, who is averaging 32.2 points per 36 minutes. Enes Kanter doesn't just score points, he scores points quickly and efficiently (56.3% shooting from the field and 78.9% shooting from the free throw line). It will be no easy task for the Thunder to make up for his efficient scoring. Especially since there isn't anybody else on the team who scores nearly as efficiently as he does, including Westbrook.
Probably the most sensible thing for the Thunder to do is to extend the minutes of Steven Adams a little bit and give rookie big man Domantas Sabonis a significant bump in his minutes. Sabonis actually averages fewer minutes per game (21.3) than Enes Kanter and so he should be good to run for 30+ minutes per game until Kanter returns. I do not see the absence of Kanter having a huge impact on the minutes that Victor Oladipo and Russell Westbrook play since they are already logging in heavy minutes in the backcourt. It is Sabonis and Adams who should see the biggest change in their minutes until Kanter returns.
The other guy who may see a change in his role is Andre Roberson, who plays the shooting guard/small forward position. At 6'7", 210 pounds, Roberson could be asked to play the stretch power forward position at times, allowing the Thunder to go small in certain packages with Steven Adams or Domantas Sabonis at the center position. Roberson is averaging 6.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 30.9 minutes per game, so he is already getting a ton of minutes in the rotation. Still, I would expect Thunder head coach Billy Donovan to experiment with Roberson at the 4 spot at least a little bit and see if Roberson can help give some relief to Sabonis and Adams inside.
As far as the big picture is concerned, the good news for the Thunder is that Enes Kanter isn't out for the season and he will be back with plenty of time to go before the playoffs. If the Thunder are able to weather this storm and keep themselves in the mix for the #4 seed until Enes Kanter comes back, they could very well succeed at snagging the #4 seed in the Western Conference playoffs. If on the other hand they slip a bit and fall back into the #7 spot, odds are good they'll have to go on the road in the first round of the playoffs, greatly diminishing their odds of making a deep run in the playoffs.
Personally, I think the Thunder will hang around and keep themselves within striking distance of the #4 seed. So long as they have Russell Westbrook averaging a triple double, they remain one of the most dangerous teams in the league. I expect him to step up his game as much as anybody and keep his team in the hunt for that #4 seed while Enes Kanter recovers.
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