Oklahoma City Thunder

How Steven Adams dinged his elbow and what it means for the Thunder

Published Jan. 25, 2016 9:50 a.m. ET

Jeff Caplan

Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams came down with one of the stranger injuries if only because no one saw him sustain the right elbow strain that forced him out of Friday's game at Dallas shortly before tipoff.

The physical 7-footer was a no-go again on Sunday at Brooklyn, and according to coach Billy Donovan, he might not be available for either of the remaining two games on this road trip. Adams' big body proved to be a big void against the Nets, who got a season-high 31 points and 10 rebounds from center Brook Lopez for just their 12th win of the season.

Before the game, Donovan, via The Oklahoman, finally shed some light on what the heck Adams did during those pregame warmups on Friday to force him out of action.

The Thunder now face a back-to-back to finish the road trip at New York on Tuesday and at Minnesota on Wednesday. They'll see Brook's brother, Robin, with the Knicks. Robin isn't a skilled offensive threat like Brook, but he'll scrap and claw inside. The Timberwolves feature behemoth Nikola Pekovic and Gorgui Dieng.

Without Adams, Oklahoma City is more reliant on offensive-minded center Enes Kanter to step up on the other end. That clearly didn't happen in Brooklyn, a strange game to begin with after the Thunder were holed up in their hotel for a day-and-half weathering the monster snowstorm.

Against the Knicks and Wolves, two sub-.500 teams, the Thunder have enough talent to nab wins against both, but as they witnessed Sunday, just going through the motions without their moustached macho man doing the dirty work inside won't get the job done.

And on Sunday at least, Donovan didn't sound like someone who expects to have his starting center back in the lineup Tuesday.