OKLAHOMA CITY — As he made his way to his locker, Lakers forward Metta World Peace walked with a noticeable limp. Moments earlier, an x-ray on his rolled right ankle proved too inconclusive to know the severity of his injury. Coupled with Kobe Bryant’s injury to his funny bone on his right elbow and Dwight Howard’s aggravated labrum in his right shoulder, the Lakers’ push to climb back into playoff contention could prove to be one long crawl.

Yet, World Peace still maintained his sense of humor following the Lakers’ 122-105 loss Tuesday to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Chesapeake Energy Arena, particularly on how he suffered an injury.

“I was doing the Harlem Shake,” World Peace said. “Then I twisted my ankle. But it’s all right.”

Why would he do that?

“I hit a three and just thought I’d do the Harlem Shake,” said World Peace, perhaps seeing the Miami Heat do the same thing. “But it’ll be okay. We’re soldiers.”

World Peace then turned toward a reporter.

“If you hurt your finger, you wouldn’t be like, ‘Hey I can’t write. My pinkie.’”

In reality, World Peace said he accidentally stepped on Serge Ibaka’s foot in the final minutes in the fourth quarter. World Peace maintains the ankle just feels “sore” and vows he will play when the Lakers (30-31) play toni ght at New Orleans (21-40). But World Peace will have further tests today on his ankle.

Regardless, World Peace remains upbeat.

“You never want to be on the end of something like that, but we played hard,” World Peace said. “We got a great team. Any coach in this league, if they had to be in this situation, they’d want to be in this situation right here. That goes to show you what type of team we have.”

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Follow L.A. Daily News Lakers beat writer Mark Medina on Twitter. E-mail him at mark.medina@dailynews.com