LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George avoided any significant damage to his right knee after suffering what appeared to be a potentially devastating injury.
The Clippers star underwent an MRI on Wednesday morning, which revealed a sprained right knee. The MRI results were conclusive, with the star suffering no damage to any major ligaments, including the ACL, MCL, or PCL. It's a sigh of relief after what was initially thought to be a serious injury. The sentiment expressed by multiple members of the Clippers is that the MRI results were essentially the best-case scenario, considering how gruesome the injury looked.
“He's a little disappointed as expected,” head coach Tyronn Lue said of Paul George Thursday. “But I think we got the best case scenario as far as what we thought it could be. And so, being re-evaluated in two, three weeks is something that we are looking forward to. His spirits are down, but that's to be expected when it's late in the season and when you want to help your team. We're gonna support him 100 percent.”
Surgery is not expected to be on the table for Paul George, who left Tuesday night's game with his right leg immobilized and in a brace. He's not expected to put any weight or pressure on it for some time.
George was carted out of Crypto.com Arena on Tuesday night, laying on the back of the cart with his leg extended out. He also had crutches, which he used to get to his car upon leaving the cart.
The Clippers star suffered the injury on a defensive rebound with about 4:38 remaining in the fourth quarter. Luguentz Dort tried to swipe at a loose ball, fouled George, and George's right leg appeared to hyperextend in troubling fashion upon landing.
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
Paul George limped off with the assistance of Clippers staff members, an arm around each as he hobbled off the court.
Paul George limps to the locker room after taking some kind of hit on the rebound with Lu Dort.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 22, 2023
Paul George's re-evaluation date is set for two-to-three weeks, which would be sometime between April 5th and April 12th. The Clippers finish the regular season on April 9th, which will be followed up by four days of play-in tournament games.
“Next man up,” Kawhi Leonard said after George went down. “We'll see. Like I said, we got a group of guys that still wanna win, love to play basketball, so we'll see what happens.”
George is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season, and his timetable to return will be determined based on the results of the evaluation he goes through from that point on. I'm told George's injury is not one in which he can simply play through the pain on. The determining factor in George's return to play will be the mobility of his knee.
There's also expected to be a, ‘ramp up,' period for Paul George whenever he is determined to be able to return, but there are still a lot of boxes to check off before that can be addressed.
Paul George finished the regular season averaging 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.5 steals per game on 45.7 percent shooting from the field and 37.1 percent from three. George appeared in 56 games for the Clippers and was selected to the 2023 NBA All-Star Team.
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