Clippers guard Russell Westbrook sustained a broken left hand on Friday vs. Washington, the team announced (Twitter link via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk).
Head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters after the game that he’s not yet sure whether Westbrook will require surgery or how much time he might miss (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
The 2016/17 league MVP, Westbrook has made nine All-NBA teams over the course of his 16-year career. After the Clips traded for James Harden, Westbrook has primarily come off the bench in 2023/24, averaging 11.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 4.5 APG and 1.1 SPG on .451/.268/.672 shooting in 57 games (22.8 MPG).
Unfortunately, Westbrook is the second noteworthy player to suffer a fractured left hand tonight, joining Raptors forward Scottie Barnes.
While Westbrook, 35, is clearly no longer in his prime, he’s still a terrific rebounder for a guard who can get in the paint and make plays. Earlier in the season, he talked about being keyed in defensively.
Before the Harden trade, Bones Hyland was the team’s backup point guard, and now that Westbrook is injured, he’ll likely receive some rotation minutes.
Westbrook holds a $4MM player option for ’24/25.
Went to the box score and saw only ten minutes played. I figured Russ was in the doghouse. This is rough for the Clippers. Might be time to see if Harden can take it up a notch or two.
Not sure Harden has a notch to take it up to. If he does, I’d be concerned with him getting banged up as well
Hopefully he is back in time for the playoffs otherwise the Clippers rotation will take a big hit but Bones is a good player imo
Bones finally gets to play