SEATTLE – As if their problems haven’t been bad enough lately, the Seattle SuperSonics learned Thursday they will be without forward Vlade Radmanovic for at least the next several games and very likely all of the team’s remaining seven games this season.
Radmanovic, a third-year forward who has started 38 times this season but has played mostly from the bench in recent months, suffered a severely sprained right ankle during Wednesday night’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Radmanovic is wearing a protective walking boot to keep the injured joint immobilized, which indicates his recovery time might be longer than the two weeks remaining on Seattle’s schedule.
According to Sonics coach Nate McMillan, Radmanovic was experiencing considerable swelling in his ankle after the injury, which occurred when he stepped on another player’s ankle as he was running down the court.
“He really rolled it pretty good,” McMillan said, “and for him to be in a boot now … I wouldn’t expect him to get back (before the end of the season).”
In addition to Radmanovic, who was placed on the injured list Thursday, the Sonics do not expect to have backup center Jerome James for tonight’s game. He has missed the last three games with an abdominal strain and is also on the injured list.
To replace Radmanovic on the active roster, Seattle has activated guard Richie Frahm from the injured list, where he has been for 12 games.
Without Radmanovic and James, the Sonics will be short-handed on the front line for tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers. Seattle’s starting lineup is expected to remain unchanged – guards Ray Allen and Brent Barry, center Vitaly Potapenko, and forwards Rashard Lewis and Reggie Evans – but the roles and minutes of the team’s bench players will be altered significantly.
“With both Vlade and Jerome out of the lineup,” McMillan said, “we’ll definitely play some guys that haven’t gotten a lot of time.”
Certainly forward Ansu Sesay and center Calvin Booth, who have both played sparingly in recent weeks, can expect to see action tonight. Also expected to get some court time are Frahm and guard Luke Ridnour, meaning the Sonics might use a three-guard lineup for stretches against the Lakers, with Rashard Lewis, a usual small forward, sliding over to play some at power forward.
Wednesday’s loss dropped the Sonics to 34-41 this season and leaves them five games behind Utah in the race for the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot. With just seven games remaining, and with Portland and Denver also ahead of Seattle, the team’s postseason hopes may be intact mathematically, but otherwise the playoff bid has died.
Nonetheless, said guard Antonio Daniels, “We still want to win.” Even if the team is out of the playoff race, he went on, “we want to make our record the best we can. The season is definitely not over. The regular season is 82 games and we have to play 82 games as hard as we possibly can.
“In this league, no one wants to get their (rear) kicked. And if we don’t come to play, we will get our (rears) kicked. We have games coming up against the Lakers and Dallas and San Antonio and Houston, and if we don’t come to play against teams like that, it’ll be embarrassing.”
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