Jeremy Lamb was expected to receive approximately 15 minutes per game this season, but he has played over 20 minutes in each of the past six games.

“My teammates trust me, my coach trusts me,” Lamb said. “I have no choice but to get more comfortable and get more confident.”

“He's getting better,” Kevin Durant said of Lamb. “Experience is the best teacher. He's going to take his bumps and bruises, but he's a smart, smart player.”

Lamb is averaging 10.8 points in 22.4 minutes on 55 percent shooting from the field over the past five games.

Russell Westbrook is shooting just 38.8 percent through 10 games this season working his way back from knee surgery.

Westbrook had to sit out all basketball activities while rehabilitating his right knee.

“It's going to take time,” Westbrook said. “Your legs got to get stronger, your body, all your muscles got to get used to working and getting back going.”

Westbrook also shot just 38.8 percent through his first 10 games last season.

Russell Westbrook sat out Oklahoma City's game on Sunday to rest as the Thunder took advantage of their schedule.

Westbrook's knee is healed, but the team saw an opportunity to get its All-Star point guard five straight days of rest.

Westbrook, who is coming off two offseason knee surgeries to repair a torn lateral meniscus, returned to the Thunder lineup earlier than expected on Nov. 3.

Westbrook is averaging nearly 22 points and five assists this season and the Thunder are 7-2 with him in the lineup.

Billy Hunter continues to claim that Derek Fisher conspired with the NBA on a 50-50 revenue split during the lockout, according to a new court filing.

Hunter names Kobe Bryant as the source of this information, saying Bryant and agent Rob Pelinka called to say he had to cut a deal at a 50-50 split of revenues.

The court filing includes statements of support for Hunter from Theo Ratliff, Etan Thomas and Mo Evans.

Kevin Durant closely watched Kansas defeat Duke this week and came away impressed by both Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker.

"That [Parker] kid is amazing," Durant said. "I think he is the best player in the country. Him and Wiggins are like '1A' and '1B.' Those guys are going to do the one-and-done thing, do it early. They are going to do really well in college and lead their teams to, I think, the Final Four. That's kind of like, 'Close your eyes and pick one.' You're good with either one of those guys.

"I love Jabari's game. He's so skilled. He has it all right now. Wiggins is on another level with God-given ability. You look at him, you can tell he's going to be really big and fill out a lot. He's really athletic."

Durant credits technology for why so many young players enter college with an advanced skill-set.

"You can basically go to [search] your favorite player and watch film," Durant said. "You can go on YouTube and type in 'LeBron James' and watch every move he does, break it down and work on it. It's simple. When I was coming up you had to figure it out. I'm seeing [young] guys shooting fade-away and Euro-step floaters.

"Where are they getting this stuff? They're just watching these guys thoroughly [on video] and breaking it down. Some of these kids have access to going to my camp, or LeBron's camp or D-Wade's [Dwyane Wade's camp], getting 1-on-1 instruction. It's amazing. The game is growing."

The Oklahoma City Thunder have hired Maurizio Gheradini as a senior advisor/international affairs.

Gheradini was most recently with the Toronto Raptors as assistant general manager.

Previously, Gheradini was general manager of Benetton Trevisio as general manager.

Kevin Durant will be featured on an upcoming episode of 60 Minutes.

James Brown was in Oklahoma City on Tuesday taping the segment with Durant.

Durant is in his seventh NBA season and is already a four-time All-NBA First Team selection.

Kevin Durant has always been the final player introduced in the Oklahoma Thunder starting lineups, but he allowed Russell Westbrook to go last in his return from injury on Sunday.

Westbrook hadn't played since April 24 when he tore his lateral meniscus.

“It's a blessing, man,” Westbrook said. “You can't take things like that for granted. Just (having) the opportunity to get your name called and the opportunity to play the game of basketball is great.”

Russell Westbrook will make his season debut for the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday against the Phoenix Suns.

Westbrook has passed all medical and physical exams in his recovery from two knee surgeries.

“Russell Westbrook has gone through a methodical rehab process jointly created by our medical and performance teams and treating physicians," Sam Presti said in a statement. "The process has been instrumental in getting Russell to this point and has included various physical and medical benchmarks. The final benchmark being unrestricted basketball activity. After hitting the necessary marks, all parties, including the team, consulting physicians, Russell’s representatives, and most importantly Russell, jointly determined that returning to play was the correct next step.”

Westbrook injured his knee in the first round of last season's playoffs.

Westbrook was expected to miss at least the first four weeks of the season.