Thunder's Durant, Westbrook and Ibaka to rest against Grizzlies

By foxsports
Published

Despite the intriguing nature of the matchup, the Oklahoma City Thunder will rest Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka in Friday night's preseason tilt with the Memphis Grizzlies.

"They're healthy," Thunder coach Billy Donovan clarified to The Daily Oklahoman. 

Donovan said he wanted to give the trio at least one game off this preseason and, based on the schedule, this game made the most sense.

"We have one day off coming off this and then we play against Denver," Donovan said. "So those guys will play against Denver. We just felt from a timing standpoint, this was the best game to do it."

Enes Kanter, who sprained his ankle Tuesday against the Dallas Mavericks, will also miss Friday's game. 

After Friday's game, Donovan plans on finalizing his regular-season rotation and playing lineups that will see minutes together more frequently.

"Against Denver and against Utah, we can start to elevate their minutes, start to give them more of a rhythm," Donovan said. "We’ll start to look at actual rotations instead of just getting guys in there, the substitution patterns."