Darius Bazley now considered week-to-week with shoulder injury

The Oklahoma City Thunder will be without Darius Bazley longer than expected.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault told reporters Thursday that Bazley is still experiencing pain in his shooting shoulder from an injury he suffered during practice following All-Star weekend. The 6’8” power forward has missed the team’s last five games.

“That one is kind of a week-to-week thing,” Daigneault said prior to Oklahoma City’s 116-93 loss to the Atlanta Hawks. “It’s a little bit of soreness and it’s in an area on his shooting side where his muscles around his shoulder are pretty lit up. It’s just not very functional with the pain he’s experiencing.

“It’s going to be a little longer of a timeline than the day-to-day that we initially did, just based on how he has responded and how his shoulder has responded.”

The 2019 first-round draft pick was averaging 11.9 points and 7.5 rebounds in over 30 minutes per game prior to the injury. He started all 36 of the team’s games prior to the All-Star break.