The Oklahoma City Thunder will look to extend their fourteen-game winning streak tonight on the road against the Utah Jazz without a key player. The reigning champions will be without their star point guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has been ruled out for tonight’s matchup with a left elbow bursitis. It is a massive blow to the Thunder, but how did this happen?

What happened to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

The news shocked everyone, especially considering how dominant he looked just days ago. On Friday, former league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spearheaded the charge against the Dallas Mavericks, pouring in 33 points in just three quarters as the Thunder cruised to a 132-111 win. His efficiency was staggering, shooting 83.3 percent from the field to lift OKC to an impressive 22-1 record.

However, despite not showing any indications of suffering an injury during Friday’s clash, SGA will now join the other key OKC stars on the bench for Sunday’s action. This has been pretty much the story of the season for the historic franchise, but Gilgeous-Alexander was the constant.

He’s been performing yet again at the MVP level, averaging 32.8 points, 6.4 assists, and 4.7 rebounds, but sadly won’t be able to add to that tonight. While his team might handle his injury for tonight’s game against the Jazz, it might become concerning if this issue becomes serious. Having said that, when’s the point guard expected to return?

What is Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s injury status and expected return date?

While we’ve already mentioned that SGA won’t be suiting up tonight because of his left elbow bursitis injury, should this be concerning for the Thunder? That’s quite complex. Even though the franchise is yet to make an official announcement on his injury status, an elbow bursitis, according to a few sources, usually takes about 3 to 6 weeks to heal.

In fact, more severe cases could take up to several months, with surgery to return to full functionality. However, assuming that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s situation isn’t that difficult, there’s still a decent chance that the 27-year-old might miss a few weeks of action. However, there’s no telling when he could actually return. Meanwhile, it will be interesting to see how the Thunder fare without him.

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How will the OKC Thunder line up without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

Tonight will be the first time that the OKC Thunder will start without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season. So, it goes without saying that it will be interesting to see how they will adjust in his absence. Although it’s never easy to replace for franchise cornerstone overnight, the Thunder do have great depth, which will certainly help their cause.

Either Cason Wallace or Ajay Mitchell could replace the injured SGA, not just for tonight, but for however many games he’s about to miss. Wallace has been quite solid this season for the franchise. The 22-year-old has been averaging 8.5 points along with 3.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists in about 28.3 minutes of action per game.

Meanwhile, Mitchell has also been pretty impressive, even more so than Cason Wallace. The 23-year-old guard is averaging 14.7 points along with 3.3 rebounds and 3.6 assists so far in this campaign. While his numbers don’t really stack up that much against Shai’s, they still are pretty decent for a youngster playing as a backup on a championship-winning roster.

So, Ajay Mitchell could be the guy OKC turns to until Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returns. And here’s how the rest of the starting five could look for tonight’s game against the Utah Jazz:

It will be interesting to see what this group of players does tonight as their star player deals with his injury. Will the Thunder be able to take their winning streak to fifteen tonight? Or will their run finally come to a halt against the Jazz?