Dennis Schroder is being held out of practice Saturday.
Billy Donovan announced the decision prior to Thunder team practice. As reported by Erik Horne of The Oklahoman, the decision is purely precautionary.
Donovan did not say when Schroder suffered the thigh contusion, but did add that it was “nothing major”.
Schroder was not in the starting lineup against the New Zealand Breakers Thursday. He did come off the bench to play 22 minutes, scoring just two points while grabbing six rebounds and dishing out six assists.
Through two preseason games, Schroder is averaging 7.5 points on 60% field goal shooting, granted the sample size is small – he’s had only 10 attempts total. He’s also averaging six rebounds and 5.5 assists.
Schroder is going to be a key piece of Oklahoma City’s offensive game plan this season.
In the preseason opener against Dallas, Schroder was part of the three-guard lineup that Donovan went with to start. He, along with Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander combined for 43 of the team’s 119 points, hitting on 14-of-22 from the floor and 7-of-12 from beyond the arc. They were also responsible for ten of Oklahoma City’s 24 assists
That lineup gave Oklahoma City a look that Donovan said he liked, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.
“All three of those guys are really important and they’re drivers of our offense because they’re smart, they have a really good feel of how to play and they’re unselfish,” Donovan said. “They’ve got to be the catalyst to moving the basketball. Putting them out there, my feeling was to get them comfortable playing with one another, get them playing with a good pace and tempo and speed, and I thought we came out to start the game playing like that.”
The Thunder return to preseason action Monday against the Dallas Mavericks. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 C.T.
