Kendrick Perkins (knee) out tonight against Houston

Read into it what you will, but via Darnell Mayberry, Kendrick Perkins will sit out tonight’s game against the Rockets because of a sprained knee he suffered yesterday at practice.

With the trade deadline on Thursday, obviously this is a touch fishy. There’s an instinct to wonder if Perk’s absence tonight is part of a larger action. His name has come up in a few rumors, most recently with the Suns in a deal involving Marcin Gortat. Though that rumor has been almost entirely shot down.

That doesn’t mean there’s not something else happening. The Thunder don’t really have a history of holding players out before the deadline (see: Jeff Green) but things might’ve gotten a bit more interesting.

Without Perk, per Mayberry, Hasheem Thabeet is expected to start in his place tonight against Houston.