LOS ANGELES — The star of the LA Clippers paul george he avoided torn ligaments in his sprained right knee and is not expected to require surgery.
While George will miss the rest of the regular season and won’t be re-evaluated for two to three weeks, the Clippers breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t suffer a more significant injury when he landed awkwardly after going knee-to-knee with Oklahoma City. lu dort in the fourth quarter of Tuesday’s 101-100 loss to the Thunder.
“He’s a little disappointed, as expected,” coach Ty Lue said before the Clippers crushed the Thunder 127-105 in a rematch on Thursday night. “But I think we got the best case scenario as far as what we thought it could be. So getting re-evaluated in two to three weeks is something we look forward to.”
George will need to let his knee heal before being re-evaluated. Once he feels his knee is strong enough, he’ll need time to recover if he can return this postseason. The Clippers (39-35) sit fifth in the Western Conference standings but are also just two games clear of seventh and out of the play-in tournament with eight games remaining.
If the Clippers clinch a playoff berth, a potential first-round return for George is considered optimistic.
“Her spirits are down,” Lue said. “But that’s to be expected when it comes to the end of the season and when you want to help your team. But we’re going to support him 100 percent.”
Lue said the Clippers will start guard eric gordon in George’s place for the remainder of the season.
And once again, the Clippers will have to try to win without one of their stars at the most important moment of the season. kawhi leonard he tore his right ACL in Game 4 of the second round against Utah in the 2021 playoffs. The Clippers still made it to the Western Conference finals before falling to Phoenix.
Last season, with Leonard out for the year, George had to sit out the second play-in game, a loss to New Orleans, because he tested positive for COVID-19. That came after George returned from a three-month absence with a torn ligament in his elbow.
Leonard made his first seven shots Thursday before finishing with 32 points, six rebounds, six assists and four steals.
“With positive energy, nobody was down,” Leonard said of several Clippers who contributed in George’s absence. “We wish PG a speedy recovery and we want him to be himself again. But he’s just the next man. And that’s how we’re going to have to play, we’ve got to keep sharing the ball and then score even deeper and come to these more focused games because we’re missing a superstar.”
