Magic Vs. Thunder: Kevin Durant Leads Short-Handed OKC Squad Into Orlando

Let's answer one question right off the bat: no, it does not appear as though Kendrick Perkins and Nate Robinson, the Oklahoma City Thunder's two newest trade acquisitions, will start against the Orlando Magic on Friday night (8 p.m., ESPN). The match-up still figures to be interesting, albeit a different sort of interesting, as Kevin Durant leads a short-handed squad into Orlando.

The Thunder, of course, will play without Nenad Kristic and Jeff Green, who left for Boston in the trade. The result will be a relatively short-handed squad. From our Thunder blog, Welcome To Loud City:

What does our roster look like? Well, we have Westbrook, Sefolosha, Durant, Ibaka, Collison, Harden, Maynor, and Cook. You'll notice that this leaves us with no backup big men, so Cole Aldrich and B.J. Mullens will likely see playing time, or the Thunder will play very small.

The problem with the lack of big men is that we are playing against the team with arguably the best center in the league, Dwight Howard. He won't feast upon our lack of depth, since he plays limited minutes, but should he be in the game while Aldrich is also down in the post, it can't spell anything but bad news.