Oklahoma City Thunder forward Mamadi Diakite is out indefinitely with a left hip fracture, the team announced on Wednesday.
Diakite appeared to have injured the hip during the fourth quarter of the preseason game against his former team, the Milwaukee Bucks.
He had been claimed off waivers by the Thunder on Sept. 26 after being waived by the Bucks.
Diakite was fighting for a spot on the final Thunder roster. Oklahoma City has 16 players on a standard contract, according to the Okalahoman, and will need to make one cut to make it 15.
Daigneault said the way the team is evaluating Diakite’s future with the organization “doesn’t really change very much” with the injury.
“Availability matters, but there’s a lot of other factors that go into those decisions, and most of them are strategy decisions that have to do with future planning, contracts, stuff like that,” Daigneault said. “That’ll all still get weighed, and we still have time to make those decisions. That’s what (general manager Sam Presti is) working on right now.
A rookie with Milwaukee last season, Diakite averaged 3.1 points in 10.1 minutes of play per game over 14 total appearances.
The final Thunder preseason game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Central Time on Thursday. OKC’s regular season will begin Wednesday.
