If the Clippers want to see veteran Paul George take the court again this season, they definitely can’t afford a first-round exit in the playoffs.
“The Clippers believe, I’m told, they’re going to have to get out of the first round for a real window for Paul George to return,” NBA insider Shams Charania said on FanDuel TV. “… You get out of the first round and you give yourself a chance to get Paul George back.”
George suffered a sprained right knee in last week’s 101-100 defeat to OKC during a very awkward fall and knee knock with Lu Dort.
PG-13 described the moment on his podcast this week and says he doesn’t blame Dort for what happened.
“It was like that where you just close your eyes and say, ‘Damn when is it gonna stop!’ It was throbbing and hurting and the only thing going through my mind was, ‘I hope I didn’t tear no major sh*t. I hope I didn’t blow anything’. I was like, ‘Damn is this it? Is this what it feels like when you tear your ACL or you tear your MCL? Is this that injury right here?’” George said in the latest episode of Podcast P.
“I don’t think what he [Lu Dort] did was malicious, he wasn’t trying to hurt me,” George continued. “He was just trying to play hard. He can get wild at times, but he’s a hard worker, plays hard and was trying to get extra possessions. I don’t knock him for competing. It was just a freak accident.”
With their 40-36 record, the Clippers are in fifth seed so they would play Phoenix in the first round, who look set to welcome back Kevin Durant tomorrow.
LAC managed to make it to the conference finals two years ago without their star forward Kawhi Leonard, so crazier things have happened.