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The Oklahoman's Anthony Slater reported today that Steven Adams has officially replaced Kendrick Perkins as the Thunder's starting center:
It's official: Steven Adams has won the Thunder's starting center job.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 28, 2014
Adams averaged 3.3 points and 4.1 rebounds in 14.8 minutes per game last season and was named to the All-Rookie Second Team. He impressed enough in a strong preseason, averaging 12.7 points on 68.4% shooting from the field, to snag the starting job for good. His strong showing this year came on the tail of a solid postseason a year ago, where his minutes and influence increased as the playoffs unfolded.
Perkins sat out all of training camp and the preseason with a sore quad. To his credit, he's maintaining a team-first perspective:
More Perk on his role and how he wants to finish, not start: pic.twitter.com/RQ04yZrCwN
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) October 27, 2014
Slater also named the Thunder's opening day starting lineup as well as the team's current injury report (NSFW for gore).
The Thunder's opening day starting lineup, per Scott Brooks: Westbrook, Roberson, Jones, Ibaka, Adams.
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 28, 2014
Officially out for at least the first two games: Kevin Durant, Reggie Jackson, Mitch McGary, Jeremy Lamb, Anthony Morrow, Grant Jerrett
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) October 28, 2014
The early going looks pretty rough for the Thunder. They'll play road games against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Los Angeles Clippers back-to-back on October 29th and 30th, before they get to return home for a November 1st game against the Denver Nuggets. For at least the first two games, they'll be fielding the starting lineup named in Slater's Tweet as well as a bench of Perkins, Nick Collison, Sebastian Telfair and Lance Thomas. Welp.
Hey, at least we finally got someone other than Perkins Adams starting at center!
This story was updated to reflect an error in Steven Adams's preseason stats.
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