Thunder forward Darius Bazley out for season with knee injury

Thunder forward Darius Bazley has sustained a non-displaced tibial plateau fracture in his right knee and will miss the team’s remaining eight games, the team’s PR department tweets.

Bazley has appeared in 69 games this season, averaging 10.8 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.4 APG and 1.0 BPG in 27.9 MPG. He was injured during the first half of the Thunder’s game against Denver on Saturday.

Bazley had been on a scoring tear prior to the injury, scoring 22 or more points in four of the previous seven games.

Back in October, the Thunder exercised their fourth-year option on Bazley, who is on his rookie contract. He’ll make $4.26M next season.

Bazley is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason and it will be interesting to see if the knee injury impacts Oklahoma City’s desire to extend him or the offer they’ll present. His scoring, rebounding and minutes totals dropped this season — he averaged 13.7 PPG and 7.2 RPG in 31.2 MPG last season. However, Bazley displayed greater defensive versatility this season by effectively guarding multiple positions, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman tweets.