Learn from Enes Kanter, kids: Never punch a chair really ridiculously hard.
During the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Thursday night win over the Dallas Mavericks, Kanter was unhappy with a foul call and proceeded to punch a chair on the sidelines, with some serious windup:
Enes Kanter (wrist) won't return tonight after smacking the Thunder's bench. pic.twitter.com/ohMnimbyyt
— The Crossover (@TheCrossover) January 27, 2017
Kanter didn’t return to the game due to a wrist injury. Soon afterward, word came that he suffered a fractured forearm and would miss the next six to eight weeks, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Oklahoma City center Enes Kanter sustained a fractured forearm after punching a chair on the Thunder’s bench on Thursday night, a self-inflicted injury that could sideline him six to eight weeks, league sources told The Vertical.
Kanter, the Thunder’s second-highest-paid player at $17.1 million a season, fired his fist into the empty chair in frustration on his way to the bench during a first-half timeout in Oklahoma City’s 109-98 victory over Dallas.
Kanter, 24, left the court and returned to the locker room to undergo X-rays that revealed the fracture.
Although Kanter can be a defensive liability, he is plays within some of the Thunder’s best offensive lineups, according to NBA.com. Removing him from the rotation puts the team in iffy territory.
Oklahoma City is comfortably in the playoff picture; eight games separate it from the closest team outside the bubble. But only one game separates the Thunder from the seventh-place Memphis Grizzlies.
Dropping down one spot is a huge deal when it sets up a matchup with the San Antonio Spurs as opposed to the Houston Rockets. Worse still, Kanter’s absence may prevent the Thunder from climbing further up the postseason ladder. They are only two games off the No. 4 seed.
On the bright side, Domantas Sabonis has been good in extended burn, and the Thunder’s net rating is higher without Kanter on the floor, according to NBA.com. So perhaps they’ll be fine in the meantime after all.
