Jerami Grant and Dennis Schroder will not play Thursday night on the road against the New Orleans Pelicans, according to Thunder coach Billy Donovan.
Grant did not play Monday night against the Portland Trail Blazers due to a sprained right ankle while Schroder was away from the team for the birth of his child.
Donovan told reporters on Wednesday that the team didn’t think either player would be available for the game but stopped short of completely ruling them out.
That changed on Thursday, according to Brett Dawson of The Athletic.
Patrick Patterson earned the start in place of Grant, while the Thunder used a combination of players to fill in for Schroder, including Raymond Felton and Deonte Burton.
To help in the absence of Grant and Schroder, the Thunder signed forward Richard Solomon and guard Scotty Hopson to 10-day contracts for additional depth. The team was required to sign two players prior to Friday because the roster had dropped below the league-mandated 14 players.
The Thunder will likely turn to Patterson and Felton once again Thursday night, against New Orleans, with Burton in line for additional minutes after recording a career-high 18 points Monday against Portland.
Oklahoma City has won 11 of 12 games and is favored by five points against the Pelicans as the organization deals with the fallout of the trade request by Anthony Davis.
Point guard Russell Westbrook will become the all-time Thunder scorer Thursday night once he records his fifth point, passing Gary Payton on the all-time Thunder/SuperSonics scoring list.
