The Oklahoma City Thunder, winners of nine of their last 11 contest, will be without defensive stalwart Andre Roberson for the foreseeable future as the starting shooting guard will be dealing with a sprained right knee.
Roberson, who has started all but one of the Thunder's games in 2015-16, suffered the sprain after colliding with superstar point guard Russell Westbrook on a layup attempt in the second quarter of his team's unexpected 99-90 loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night.
It was initially rumored that Roberson could potentially need surgery to repair the right knee, however, the 24-year old underwent an MRI on Monday that confirmed that the injury sustained with nothing more than a sprain.
In 45 appearances with Oklahoma City, Roberson has posted 4.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, 0.9 steals, 0.8 assists, and 0.7 blocks in 21.7 minutes per game while shooting a solid 50% from the field.
The third-year veteran from Colorado has garnered a PER of 10.93, however, he must improve his three-point shooting ability if he wishes to acquire more minutes in the Thunder rotation.
Roberson has shot at just a 27% clip from behind the arc this season, just above his career percentage of 25%.
The former first-round pick has recorded double digits in scoring on five occasions this season, his biggest effort coming in a December 23 blowout victory over the Los Angeles Lakers in which he posted 15 points and seven rebounds while shooting 7-of-9 from the field in 26 minutes of action.
In Roberson's absence, veteran forward Kyle Singler is expected to fill in the void in the starting lineup. Also, expect the likes of shooting guards Dion Waiters and Anthony Morrow to see an increase in minutes surrounding Westbrook and 2014 NBA MVP Kevin Durant, who is averaging 26.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game.