Aleksej Pokusevski to join the team on road trip following end of Blue season

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been without Aleksej Pokusevski since December 28th, when he went down with a leg injury that has held him out ever since. However, a few weeks ago, Pokusevski began practicing with the OKC Blue, the Thunder’s G-League affiliate, before finally playing in-game action on March 15th back in the Paycom Center against the Clippers’ G-League affiliate.

Since then, the Thunder forward has stuck with the OKC Blue, finishing their season in the G-League, which just so happened to align with the west coast trip the Oklahoma City Thunder are on. With the Oklahoma City Blue playing the South Bay Lakers on Tuesday and The G-League Ignite (Nevada) on Thursday. Following Thursday’s game, Aleksej Pokusevski will rejoin the OKC Thunder.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will see Aleksej Pokusevski rejoin the team on Friday, though expectations are tempered early on.

Mark Daigneault announced before tip-off of tonight’s game that Aleksej Pokusevski will be rejoining the NBA squad following tonight’s game against the NBA G-League Ignite, which marks an end to the NBA G-League season for the OKC Blue.

However, given his return from injury, I would not expect him to play in Friday’s game against the Lakers on the second night of a back-to-back. Aleksej Pokusevski told me a week ago he is still trying to get his wind back, which Mark Daigneault echoed today.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will wrap up their west coast swing with a game on Friday against the Lakers and Sunday against Portland before returning to Oklahoma City for a matchup with the Hornets. That Hornets-Pistons back-to-back effort could be a nice attempt to work Pokusevski back into the mix in a low-stakes environment.

Aleksej Pokusevski had a career year before this injury, averaging eight points, five rebounds, two assists, and a block per game. While shooting 44 percent from the floor and 48 percent from beyond the arc.