Not a lot happened at practice today, as the Sonics continue to get ready for the regular season. The Sonics will play their next game on Thursday against the L.A. Lakers in Bakersfield, Calif. The game will be televised on TNT, at 7 p.m.

Here’s a quick injury update. Kevin Durant suffered a cut above his eye and had to leave practice to have three stitches. He should be fine for the game on Thursday.

Wally Szczerbiak (sprained left thumb) and Nick Collison (left shin contusion) also suffered injuries during practice but finished on the floor. … Damien Wilkins was back practicing after suffering a sprained right ankle in the Indiana game. And Johan Petro, who missed practice on Monday to have a cardiologist examine him after experiencing heart palpitations, received medication for the condition and practiced on Tuesday. Delonte West was expected to return from his grandmother’s funeral Tuesday night. He’ll have his strained back evaluated and if cleared he will practice today, and could start on Thursday.

Again, P.J. Carlesimo talked about all the competition at each position, and how there is no clear-cut person at each position. Carlesimo said the competition has hampered the team’s growth, but that the competition is necessary with new coaches, players and management joining the team.

“It’s much easier when you have a hierarchy and you know these eight or nine guys are playing and these five guys are the starters,” Carlesimo said. “You get further quicker when you’re working with that smaller group and the other guys kind of pitch in.”

The competition with the least amount of players is at power forward, where Chris Wilcox and Nick Collison are battling it out. Carlesimo said it’s a tough situation for both players because he believes that each player deserves more than 24 minutes each. However, he wants to start one of the young bigs (Swift, Petro, Sene) or Kurt Thomas at the center position, which leaves Collison and Wilcox’s options limited.

“It’s been our best position,” Carlesimo said. “It’s a problem. There’s not enough minutes there for the two of them unless we give one of them time at the five, and I don’t want to do that initially.
“Nick and Chris have played very well, and very consistently. And they’re both going to be in the rotation, obviously. We just have to figure out how we get them more minutes.”

Wilcox had this to say about the competition.

“Either way we’ll both be coming off with fresh legs,” he said. “I can give him a breather or he can give me a breather. Or sometimes the bigs might be in trouble and we might be in there together. We just have to stay positive, keep each other healthy and make sure we push each other in practice.”

Listen to the full Wilcox conversation here.

Point guard Earl Watson also talked about the leadership issue for the team.

“I don’t think leadership roles can ever be given away,” he said. “I wouldn’t want to appoint myself a leader. I want to earn that. I want to earn the trust of my teammates to even be told that to begin with. It’s something that will emerge over the season.”

Listen to more conversation with Watson here.

One last note. According to the Associated Press the first court hearing in the case between the city of Seattle and the NBA’s Seattle SuperSonics has been set. The team and the city will appear Thursday before U.S. District Judge Ricardo Martinez. The case’s initial hearing had been set for last Wednesday, but the city’s suit against the team was moved from state court to federal court at the Sonics’ request.
Martinez scheduled the hearing to begin determining if the case should remain in federal court or be settled by a panel of arbitrators, as the team has suggested. The city has asked for a jury trial in the case.