Kanter Injures Wrist As Thunder Take Down Depleted Mavs

In the second quarter of tonight's game against the Mavericks, Enes Kanter came to the bench furious, slamming his hand on a chair in frustration. Kanter immediately knew something was wrong as he glanced at his wrist. According to Billy Donovan, Kanter suffered a right forearm fracture.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! reports the Thunder center will be out 6-8 weeks.

This would deal a tremendous blow to the Thunder lineup. The team heavily relies on Kanter to lead the second unit, which lacks any potent scorers besides himself. Kanter, an already serious threat on offense, has shown an improved passing game this season, especially out of double teams--a flaw that was shown in the last year's Warriors series.

As a team with a shortage of offensive playmakers, Kanter was an extremely reliable player off the bench, leading some to believe Kanter would be the 6th Man of the Year.

This has far more consequences than what meets the eye. Not only does it hurt the team in terms of wins and losses, but any significant move the Thunder planned to make at the trade deadline almost certainly had to involve Kanter. The 24 year old center was impressing teams around the league with his improved playmaking, increasing his trade value significantly. The Thunder just recently signed Oladipo and Adams to major contracts and don't plan on moving the duo anytime soon, unless a godlike offer arouse.

While a significant trade was unlikely, the Thunder now have no real shot at moving the needle anymore.

The Thunder have already dealt with a wrist injury earlier this season with Victor Oladipo, though the  guards injury was not as severe as Kanter's. With Oladipo out, the bench began to find a rhythm, with Kanter being the conductor.

While the injury caused a hole in the Thunder offense in the second half, the team rallied behind Westbrook's 45 points on an efficient 16-29 on field goals to beat the Dirk-less Mavericks. The team also received contributions from Victor Oladipo (17 points) and Steven Adams (15 points).

The Thunder will be in Cleveland this Sunday to take on the Cavaliers with a 2:30 tip-off.

Video of the incident:

Kanter is done for the evening with a wrist injury. He did it punching a chair earlier in the game. Take a look. pic.twitter.com/nWrs5h8c1t

— Up The Thunder (@UpTheThunder) January 27, 2017