Paul George out for rest of regular season with sprained knee: ‘We got the best-case scenario’
The Los Angeles Clippers will be without Paul George for the rest of the regular season, but coach Ty Lue is as happy with the scenario as he possibly could be.
George collided knees with Oklahoma City Thunder star Lu Dort on Tuesday night and fell to the court awkwardly at Crypto.com Arena. The Clippers said Thursday that he avoided torn ligaments in his sprained knee and will not need surgery. He won’t be evaluated again for at least two weeks.
“He’s a little disappointed, as expected. But I think we got the best-case scenario as far as what we thought it could be,” Lue said Thursday, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “And so, being reevaluated in two, three weeks is something that we are looking forward to.”
George went down in the fourth quarter of the Clippers’ 101-100 loss to the Thunder on Tuesday night. He went up for a rebound near the rim with Dort, and then banged his right knee into Dort’s on the way down. George fell to the court instantly in pain, and he was eventually helped off the floor.
Here’s the play where Paul George suffered what appears to be a leg injury. pic.twitter.com/k0JbXyrXvn
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 22, 2023
George finished with 18 points and 7 rebounds in the loss. He’s averaged 23.8 points and 6.1 rebounds in 56 games this season, his fourth with the team.
The Clippers beat the Thunder 127-105 in a rematch Thursday night, and sit with a 39-35 record with eight games left in the regular season. They are in fifth in the Western Conference standings, but seven other teams are within three games. The Clippers are just behind the Phoenix Suns in the standings, too.
"His spirits are down," Lue said of George, via ESPN. "But that's to be expected when it's late in the season and when you want to help your team. But we are going to support him 100 percent."
