Quick Reaction: How Does OKC Deal With Steven Adams’ Injury?

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Nov 3, 2014; Brooklyn, NY, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) defends Brooklyn Nets center

Brook Lopez

(11) during the third quarter at Barclays Center. Brooklyn Nets won 116-85. Mandatory Credit: Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

OPTION #3: Make a Trade for a Center

PROS: Getting a proven player that wouldn’t be a significant drop-off or might even represent an upgrade.

CONS: Giving away rotation players at another position or future assets that lead to sustained growth as a franchise.

The reported trade with the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez was supposedly dead last month. Adams’ injury could force GM Sam Presti to try and revive them.

This isn’t an ideal option but the team is clearly in a win-now mode. The trade for Dion Waiters, the impending free agency of Kevin Durant…all these are factors that keep Presti up at night. Even though a nine-game stretch isn’t a long time, losing just five of those games (or, inconceivably, even more) would put you out of the playoff picture for good.

Can Presti afford to wait it out and hope for the best?

Chances are that he will do exactly that. He’s a patient man and the Waiters move, perhaps for the first time in Presti’s tenure, reeks slightly of desperation. Not that Waiters’ acquisition was a bad thing; in fact, it’s quite the opposite despite the player’s inconsistencies. He gives you an option as a reserve scorer when Reggie Jackson isnt’ producing or if, as expected, he’s eventually traded.

But if the team needs to win this season to keep Durant satisfied, can Presti leave the future of the franchise in the hands of Kendrick Perkins?

Lopez isn’t a great option. This proposed move for Charlotte’s Al Jefferson isn’t ideal either. But for a team that seems in a championship-or-bust mode, they could be necessary to save this season and the future.

Who would’ve thought it would all have been riding on Steven Adams’ right hand?

Next: Predicting the Thunder's February Schedule