The Los Angeles Clippers have been relatively healthy all season, but they'll now face an extended absence for a key rotation player. Russell Westbrook suffered a left hand fracture in the Clippers' game against the Washington Wizards on Friday night and is out for remainder of the game.
Russell Westbrook (left hand fracture) is OUT for the remainder of this game.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 2, 2024
It's not 100 percent clear when the injury to Russell Westbrook happened, but the Clippers guard appeared to suffer the injury in the second quarter on a play defending Jordan Poole. Westbrook poked at the ball from behind and immediately grabbed at his hand. He flexed, stretched, and pulled the finger trying to get rid of the discomfort.
Here’s the play where it appears that Russell Westbrook suffer his hand injury. He grabs at and flexes his hand multiple times immediately after trying to poke the ball out of Jordan Poole’s hands. https://t.co/we7FFBzDxX pic.twitter.com/vqgUTDt7px
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 2, 2024
Westbrook would go on to play a couple more possessions before coming out of the game for the remainder of the first half. Westbrook underwent imaging at halftime, which revealed the fracture in his left hand.
Russell Westbrook had been pretty healthy throughout his NBA career, and has played in at least 73 games in each of the last two seasons. Westbrook played 65 games in the COVID-19-shortened 2020-21 season and 57 games in the 2019-20 season.




Westbrook has played in 1,152 of a possible 1,251 regular season games throughout his career, including every single game of the first five seasons of his NBA career.
Russell Westbrook appeared in all 58 games for the Clippers so far this season, averaging 11.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.1 steals per game in 22.8 minutes per game.
The Clippers defeated the Washington Wizards on Friday night for their 38th win of the season.
More to come…