The LA Clippers are entering one of their toughest stretches of the season, and they'll be doing it without superstar Paul George for at least the next 3-to-4 weeks. The team announced a torn UCL for the Clippers star, and the team is hopeful a month of rest will get the George back on track for a return.
The Clippers, however, could be without Paul George for a much longer period of time. How long? According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, George will be out beyond the 3-to-4 week period and could potentially be out for the season.
“The team will re-evaluate him in 3-4 weeks, they'll see if rest can get him on a pathway to recovery,” Wojnarowski said on NBA Countdown. “But he's gonna be out certainly a significant period of time and there's no real sense of when, or if, he'll be back this year.”
"The team will re-evaluate him in 3-4 weeks, they'll see if rest can get him on a pathway to recovery, but he's gonna be out certainly a significant period of time and there's no real sense of when, or if, he'll be back this year."@wojespn on Clippers' star Paul George.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 26, 2021
Paul George reportedly suffered the injury during the Clippers' December 6th matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. He went on to miss the following five games over a 12-day span before returning December 20th against the San Antonio Spurs.
After the game, George said he felt fine, but wanted to see how he felt the following morning after taking some hits.
"Not sure. It took some hits today, a couple stingers. We'll see how it feels tomorrow. Not sure if it'll be sore or not. See how it feels in the morning."
Paul George on his elbow injury. pic.twitter.com/hy4otZjQLW
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 21, 2021
Paul George played against the Sacramento Kings two days later and played well, but was apparently experiencing some pain. George went through an MRI, which revealed the injury for the Clippers star.
A 3-to-4 week absence for George comes at the worst time for the Clippers, as they start a 5-in-7 stretch that leads into a 12-road game January. The end of that month features an eight game road trip spanning 13 days.
“It's frustrating,” head coach Tyronn Lue said earlier this week about all the absences the Clippers have had to deal with. “I mean, you can't get a rhythm of how we want to play with all of our guys here, but everyone's dealing with the same thing so I'm pretty sure, I talked to four or five coaches around the league that's frustrated with the same thing, so just having a chance to have our whole team for five, 10 games, just to see how it looks going forward. But like I said, it is what it is, talked about the last two years just being able to adapt and we've done that but it is frustrating.”
Frustrating or not, the Clippers have nothing to do but keep charging ahead. They'll come out of their three-day Christmas break with a home back-to-back set against the Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets.
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