Clippers All-Star Paul George is now expected to miss Los Angeles’ entire first-round playoff matchup against the Suns, sources inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
This news isn’t completely unexpected. Even in late March, soon after George initially sprained his right knee during a regular season game against the Thunder, word trickled out that the Clippers anticipated they might need to advance beyond the first round to give the star forward a chance to return.
Rumors continued to persist earlier this week suggesting that George could sit out the Phoenix series as he continues to rehabilitate the knee.
Across his 56 healthy contests this season, the 32-year-old posted typically stellar numbers, averaging 23.8 PPG on .457/.371/.871 shooting splits, along with 6.1 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.5 SPG.
Without one of their two best players, the Clippers will have their work cut out for them against a healthy Suns club that could be much better than its 45-37 record suggests.
Phoenix has gone 8-0 in its games when newly-added All-Star small forward Kevin Durant has been available, and will start an intimidating lineup featuring Durant and fellow All-Star Devin Booker, along with future Hall of Fame point guard Chris Paul and maximum-salaried center Deandre Ayton. Josh Okogie rounds out the Suns’ healthy first five.
LA will hope that its remaining star forward, Kawhi Leonard, can help hold the line against Phoenix. The first game of the series tips off tonight.
That’s too bad. This one could have been a banger.
The team that stays the healthiest will come out of the west.
And the team that scores the most points will win the game
Amen !!
I’m a clippers fan but I won’t even consider it a disappointment if the Kawhi and pg13 clippers never win a title ! I don’t actually ever think they should have ! They contended but they never had close to the best roster or the best team
Clippers truly cursed lols …….
Was looking forward to this series.
Clippers need to poach the best trainers this off-season. Whatever they are paying their current staff bring in better ones for double the price. But somehow PG13 or Kawhi will still miss a playoff series…. So I guess forget it.