The Oklahoma City Thunder had a big scare in their game against the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night when Kevin Durant left with a hamstring injury. Durant did not return to the game but the injury is not said to be all that serious. Having said that Durant is expected to miss about a week so the Thunder need to replace him in the starting lineup and they have options but it seems as though Kyle Singler is the favorite for the temporary spot, according to Anthony Slater of the Oklahoman.
Singler seems like the guy that will take the spot because he started the second half in the game on Tuesday without Durant. The other options head coach Billy Donovan has are Dion Waiters and Anthony Morrow but it seems likely he will want to keep them with the second unit for the time being although Donovan has said he has not yet decided which way he will go.
Singler has started 168 games in his career so he is accustomed to being in that role but the former Duke Blue Devil is off to a rough start to this season. In seven games Singler is averaging 2.3 points in just 13.1 minutes per game while shooting a measly 24 percent from the field. If Singler does get the starting role he likely wouldn't get too much of an increase in his minutes so Waiters and Enes Kanter might actually be the players that benefit the most statistically from Durant's absence.
Waiters is fourth on the team in minutes per game and has had a good start to the season off the bench so it would make sense for Donovan to not want to mess with his role for now. Morrow has been out of the rotation for the most part as he is averaging just 12 minutes per game but he may have an opportunity now to re-enter with more playing time while Durant is out.
As for Durant, his current timetable is 7-10 days but that is not set in stone as Donovan said that Durant will be re-evaluated after that timetable is up to determine what the next course of action will be. Donovan did add that the injury is not serious though, so Durant shouldn't miss much more time than the initial timetable. The Thunder seem to have dodged a bullet with this one so whoever Donovan chooses to replace Durant in the starting lineup with will likely only be there for a short period of time.
