Paul George injured his elbow on December 6th, and missed five straight games for the LA Clippers.
On Saturday, it was revealed that George tore his UCL in that right elbow, and will be out about a month.
He’ll rest, and be re-evaluated in about three to four weeks before deciding on the next steps to his recovery. This is going to be very tough on the team with Kawhi Leonard already still out due to his partial ACL tear. The squad will now be without both of their stars, which will be a level of adversity they haven’t experience for an extended period of time this season.
The LA Clippers will be hoping Kawhi Leonard can return to the team soon with Paul George out for at least a month.
For what it’s worth, there was recently positive news about Kawhi Leonard returning to the LA Clippers. Play-by-play analyst Mark Jones said he spoke with Kawhi, who is optimistic about a return this year:
ESPN and SAC PBP announcer Mark Jones on the Kings broadcast says: "I spoke with [Kawhi] Leonard last week and he has thoughts of perhaps coming back to this team this year before the season's over"
— Lucas (@LucasJHann) December 23, 2021
Also, Clippers Executive Jerry West was vocal about how much hope he has for a return from the Klaw, and that he’s been impressed with how Leonard’s recovering and handling the situation:
“If you look at him now, he looks great,” said West. “Doing things that I didn’t expect he could do…If you watch him walk around, you would never know that he had that operation.”
A return from Leonard would be critical due to how the No. 1 reason the Clippers have been above ground this year (fifth in the West with a 17-15 record) is because of PG13’s play. PG is averaging 24.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and two steals per game this year as the No. 1 option on the Clips.
Without PG this year, the Clips have been 3-3. PG did, however, come back after his five consecutive missed games. He looked very good in the two games as well, but resting him looks like the best possible plan to make sure PG doesn’t end up hurting himself any further.
George’s injury puts the Clips in a tough spot, but considering he did shoot 37.5% from deep in his two-game return to go along with 12 total assists and eight total steals, he may not be as hurt as some fear. And if the team can play at the .500 clip they have without PG13 so far this season, they could still end up contending if they can keep that up during the time that Leonard is out for, and see a return from Leonard.
No team has been hit harder by the injury bug this season than the Clippers.