OKC Thunder In the news: Andre Roberson’s setback, Deonte Burton fanbase grows

Goodmorning to all OKC Thunder fans. I hope you all enjoyed your Saturday marinating in the sweet aroma of victory. The OKC Thunder beat the Hawks on Friday, and it’s nice to feel it all the way over here on Sunday.

I know I started off cheery, OKC Thunder fans, but the reality is a cruel mistress. Let’s get the very worst out of the way, and then we can have some fun the rest of the day (I hope you all like rhyming).

Roberson Faces Setback

Andre Roberson has had a long, slow and arduous return from injury. Initial reports had Roberson being reevaluated in early December, but it looks like that won’t be happening.

The OKC Thunder forward ruptured his patellar tendon last January, and he’s faced many speed bumps to his recovery. Most recently, Roberson underwent an MRI which discovered an avulsion fracture in his left knee.

Thunderous Intentions writer Alex Mcewen provided the injury update and some positive news within the negative:

"The positive news to take from Dre’s latest setback is, his patellar tendon must be very strong, due to the fact it broke off a piece of bone. Therefore, earlier reports that his original injury was healing well can now be confirmed."

This development is a bit surprising as Roberson has been seen running, dunking, and cutting on the basketball practice floor for a few weeks now.

The upshot of this is that the OKC Thunder have the number 1 defense in the league right now. Without Roberson, the Thunder defense is fine, which allows them to guide his recovery the correct way, without haste. We wish him a speedy return.

Schröder Got His Revenge

OKC Thunder guard Dennis Schroder visited his old team this last Friday, and he got his revenge.

It’s no secret Schröder didn’t want to be in Atlanta, and its safe to assume going back and getting a W would feel pretty good.

The OKC Thunder did just that, handing the Hawks their 18th loss of the season.

Not to celebrate anyone’s misfortune, but…way to go, Denny.

More from Thunderous Intentions

• Stealing one player from every Southwest Division team for the OKC Thunder
• Should the OKC Thunder chase after a disgruntled hometown hero?
• 3 OKC Thunder players who can step up in Aleksej Pokusevski’s absence
• Aleksej Pokusevski sidelined approximately 6 weeks with ankle injury
• Damian Lillard does not fit with the OKC Thunder

For more on Schroder’s big night check out Sinjin Snopes post game player grades and the crew at Topic: Thunder podcast analyzing the win.

Burton Making Waves

OKC Thunder two-way player Deonte Burton has quickly become something of a fan favorite.

Thunder forward Paul George seems to be a fan as well. Recently, George spoke with team media as writer Cody Taylor outlined in his ThunderWire article

"“[He] does a little bit of everything. I classify him as a ballplayer; you don’t really put a position on him. He is just a hooper and you put him out there and he is going to make things happen. We have a couple of guys like that on this team who are positionless but when they get in that game, their talent comes out and it shows. He is a talented guy for us.”"

It’s hard to miss when Burton is making plays like this:

Go, Burton, go.