Houston Rockets forward Sam Dekker broke his left hand during his team’s 123-116 win over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, and the initial diagnosis indicated he will miss three-to-four weeks, per the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen. This would sideline him for at least the beginning of the playoffs, hurting Houston’s versatility in the frontcourt. Dekker, who appeared in all of the Rockets’ first 76 games, suffered the injury when he collided with Suns forward Jared Dudley in the fourth quarter. The team announced Monday that he had surgery to repair the fracture and will be re-evaluated in a week.

More from the Chronicle:

“It was a loose ball,” Dekker said. “It [his left hand] got pinned up. I knew right away. Things happen. It’s basketball. I’ll be back. I hope I can get back and help the team in the playoffs.”

…

“It’s a fluky thing,” Dekker said. “Things happen. I was mad because I missed all of last season. I was very proud of the fact that I played all (76). To go down with this, I knew right away. I was very (angry.) Everything happens for a reason. Being negative won’t get you anywhere. I’ll be all right.”

It’s difficult to assess exactly how much Houston will miss Dekker without seeing coach Mike D’Antoni’s playoff rotation, but perhaps last week’s pair of games against the Golden State Warriors were telling. In each of them, with Ryan Anderson out of the lineup, D’Antoni started Trevor Ariza at power forward and used three reserves: Dekker, Lou Williams and a big man -- Nene played in the first meeting, Montrezl Harrell in the second. Dekker has almost exclusively played power forward for Houston lately, using his quickness and ability to switch onto smaller players to his advantage. 

Without Dekker, D’Antoni doesn’t have another guy quite like that, but he has a few options. Once Anderson comes back from his ankle injury, the Rockets don’t necessarily need to replace Dekker with a backup forward -- Ariza could shift to the 4 as soon as Anderson comes out of the game. In the meantime, D’Antoni could experiment with giving minutes to Troy Williams and Kyle Wiltjer, or he could go big with Harrell playing some power forward. 

One intriguing development: Williams, who was signed out of the D-League in March, made his Houston debut on Sunday and scored 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 6-for-9 from 3-point range. You have to assume he’ll at least have a chance to prove that wasn’t a fluke.