Austin Rivers will miss Friday’s game vs. Washington due to a concussion he suffered on Wednesday night.
What else is new.
The Clippers will be down another man Friday night, as Austin Rivers will miss the game with a concussion. In the second quarter of last night’s game against the Orlando Magic, Rivers took an elbow to the face, and was down for an extended amount of time. He didn’t return to the game, and it was later reported he suffered a concussion. Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times broke the news after the game that Austin won’t suit up in LA’s next contest.
Austin Rivers suffered concussion and will not play at Washington Friday night, per Clippers
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) December 14, 2017
In 18 minutes on the evening, Rivers finished with nine points, to go along with two rebounds, a steal and a block.
This is a major blow to the Clippers, who are already without Blake Griffin, Patrick Beverley, and Danilo Gallinari. Luckily for the Clips, they recently got back Milos Teodosic, who missed significant time with an injury of his own.
On the season, Rivers is averaging nearly 15 points a game, which is a career-high. However, over the course of the last nine games, he’s been averaging nearly 20 points a game.
With the Clippers playing on back-to-back nights this weekend, it’s likely we won’t see Rivers on Saturday as well. LA travels to Miami to take on the Heat.
With the league getting more strict and protective with concussions, we’re not entirely sure how much time Austin may miss. We also don’t know the severity of the concussion quite yet. Luckily for the Clippers, playing short-handed is nothing new this season. They’ve had to have multiple players step up this season, and will need to have some step up in the absence of their guard.