Serge Ibaka out 4-6 weeks following arthroscopic surgery

NBAE/USATSI

Welp, part infinity.

Serge Ibaka underwent an arthroscopic knee procedure this morning to address some swelling and soreness and is out the next 4-6 weeks, the team announced.

“Serge is a guy that always wants to be out on the floor, rarely misses time,” Sam Presti said, “but we felt like with where the symptoms were, we didn’t think it was going to be improving, and because of that this was the necessary step.”

Ibaka began experiencing soreness at the end of February, and the team began a treatment plan to try and manage it, which included aspirating the knee. Presti said Ibaka had an MRI done which revealed no structural or concerning long term issues.

“These type roughening episodes are not uncommon,” Presti said Tuesday. “They’re really just the result of wear and tear, and it happens to athletes over time. Generally you like to deal with these in the offseason, but what separated Serge’s a little bit, and kind of led us to where we ended up, is that he was having some swelling as a result of that.”

Kevin Durant should be back soon, but still four to six weeks has Ibaka missing the rest of the regular season. Which could be the final nail in the coffin for this tumultuous Thunder season.

“Obviously, a setback in terms of timing for us,” Presti said. “It would’ve been ideal if this was something we could’ve attended to over the summer. But the long term health of the player and the ability to play at a high level during the season is the most important thing.”

In two of the three games Ibaka missed, the Thunder started the big man combination of Steven Adams and Enes Kanter. In those games, the duo has produced a combined 66 points and 50 rebounds. So maybe some reason for optimism?

“You always want everybody available to you, but that’s not realistic all the time in the NBA,” Presti said. “We’ve learned that, and we feel really good about the depth of our team. We feel really good about the potential of our team. And we expect to play well.

“We feel like we’ve put ourselves in position, over the first part of the season, to be able to control our own destiny, and find ways to play at a consistent level defensively and continue to evolve offensively,” Presti said. “Which has been our focus coming in to this season. So we’re still in position to do that. We obviously have got to make some accounting for the fact we won’t have Serge going forward, but we feel really good about the group that we have and I feel that our standard of play should continue to be where it’s been and our focus and our goals as to what drives our success remain unchanged.”