Oklahoma City Thunder's Russell Westbrook out for 2 months after knee surgery

Oklahoma City Thunder guard <Russell Westbrook faces a couple of months on the sidelines after it was revealed that he had to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Friday.

Westbrook is expected to be out until after the All-Star break & is expected to miss at least 27 games.

Westbrook’s knee problems began in April when he tore his meniscus in the second game of the Western Conference playoffs, which kept him out for the remainder of the postseason and severely jeopardized Oklahoma City’s chances of reaching the NBA Finals. He had a second surgery in the pre-season after developing inflammation in the knee. However, Westbrook missed only two regular-season games before returning to action.

In his last game on Christmas, Westbrook helped the Thunder to a convincing 123-94 win against the New York Knicks, finishing with 14 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists.

“He will be missed,” coach Scott Brooks said before Oklahoma City’s game Friday night against the Charlotte Bobcats. “Obviously we are a very good team with him, and without him we’re still going to be a very good team.”

Brooks also added that he didn’t know the knee was an issue until after the game against the New York Knicks.

“He’s passed every medical benchmark and he was playing great basketball, probably some of the best basketball in the entire league,” Brooks said. “We’re looking forward to him coming back and getting back to the level that he has played at — and he will.”