Thunder center Enes Kanter expected to miss 6-8 weeks

After losing his cool during Thursday night’s game, Oklahoma City Thunder center Enes Kanter will be in street clothes for awhile.

The Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Dallas Mavericks 109-98 on national television Thursday night, propelled by 45 points (17 in the fourth quarter) from All-Star Russell Westbrook. With three wins in a row, the Thunder are now 28-19 and firmly in playoff contention in the Western Conference.

But center Enes Kanter appeared to injure himself in the first half against the Mavericks, when he punched a chair, and it was reported after the game he had a broken right forearm. Kanter is of course sure to miss some time, and Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical has reported the big man will miss 6-8 weeks.

Kanter has come off the bench for all 47 of Oklahoma City’s games this season. But he’s the team’s third-leading scorer (14.4 points per game) and rebounder (6.7 per game), and more advanced stats look very kindly at Kanter’s contribution.

Among Thunder players this season, per ESPN Stats and Info, Kanter has the made the second-most field goals (123) and has the second-best field goal percentage (56.9) on attempts that don’t involve an assist. As a result, and perhaps very obviously, only Westbrook has more than Kanter’s 370 unassisted points on the Oklahoma City roster.

Kanter’s absence will leave the Thunder very thin on big men. Starting center Steven Adams is already averaging more than 30 minutes per game, but he may pick up a few more minutes. Otherwise, Joffrey Lauvergne (13.6 minutes per game), Jerami Grant, rookie Domantas Sabonis (21.3 minutes per game) and little-used veteran Nick Collison (11 games this season) are all in line for more playing time while Kanter is out.

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The lineup creativity of Thunder head coach Billy Donovan stands to show in the coming weeks, as small-ball may the way to go without Kanter. No matter what, the already heavy offensive burden on Westbrook will only increase now.