Kendrick Perkins injured his right groin in Game 4 of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s first round series with the Dallas Mavericks this year.
Perkins had surgery on that groin Thursday and will miss 4-6 weeks before returning to the normal offseason routine.
Perkins did not miss any time in the playoffs because of the injury and the Thunder withheld the extent of the injury until after the playoffs.
In the final two rounds of the playoffs against the Spurs and Heat, Perkins was not much of a factor at all and actually hurt the Thunder more than helped them. San Antonio and Miami went with smaller lineups nullifying Perkins’ impact and the large amount of time he spent on the floor could have cost the Thunder the NBA title.
That is in the past now though and Perkins’ future with this team is still important. He truly is one of the best one-on-one post defenders in the NBA and with the Lakers’ improving their roster this offseason, a potential Western Conference Finals meeting will pit a lot of responsibility on Perkins’ defense.
The Thunder parted ways with backup center Nazr Mohammed this summer leaving Perkins’ backups to be Cole Aldrich and Hasheem Thabeet. Neither of those two would have a chance at cracking the starting lineup over Perkins again reinforcing the value Perkins does have.
The future of the NBA and this Thunder team is playing smaller lineups. That will mean more Nick Collison and Serge Ibaka and less Perkins.
Andrew Kennedy is the lead editor of Thunderous Intentions and Director of the FanSided NBA Division. Also 'Like' Thunderous Intentions on Facebook. Â
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