Perkins strained his right hip in Game 4 against the Dallas Mavericks on May 5 – an injury that would normally have a player out for 10-14 days. It is nine days later now and the Thunder are finally going to play again, with or without their starting center.

“He went through some of the drills (Sunday) in practice,” Brooks told The Oklahoman. “He’s taken a step in that direction (starting on Monday). We’ll see how he responds after the day’s work tomorrow morning. We can assess that better. He did participate in some of the work today.”

Perkins is the definition of tough so if there is any chance that he can play, he probably will. At his position too he may be alright at 75-80 percent because the Thunder don’t ask too much from him aside from banging bodies down low.

Perkins will be needed in this series against the Lakers maybe more than against any other team. The Thunder traded Jeff Green to the Celtics last season for Perkins for this specific matchup against L.A.

Nick Collison thinks Perkins will be “good to go” and said he “looked good” in practice yesterday.