Los Angeles Clippers star forward Paul George is expected to be sidelined for the beginning of the first-round series against the Phoenix Suns, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
George suffered what looked like a scary knee injury in the Clippers’ 101-100 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder March 21. He was diagnosed with a right knee sprain and said on his podcast, ‘Podcast P,’ shortly after he had no timetable for his return.
Charania added in an appearance with FanDuel TV that the Clippers are entering their series against the Suns with the mindset they need to win the series to get George back into the lineup.
“He just started the other day doing more treatment, more therapy on the court, kind of increasing his exercise level,” Charania said. “But there’s no contact work being done yet, there’s no 2-on-2, 3-on-3, scrimmaging going on as of yet, from what I’m told. So they’re going to have to get out of this series without him if they want a chance to potentially get him back, definitely at 100 percent.”
George’s absence will significantly hurt the Clippers, who won their final regular-season game against the Suns Sunday, 119-114, to secure the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference and set up a first series against Phoenix.
George is Los Angeles’ leading scorer at 23.8 points per game and is also averaging 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists per contest.
George played in two of four meetings against the Suns this season and scored 26 and 16 points, respectively, in those two games. Phoenix played George and the Clippers in the 2021 Western Conference Finals, when Los Angeles was without forward Kawhi Leonard, who tore his ACL in the second round of the postseason.
The Suns defeated the Clippers in six games to reach their third NBA Finals in franchise history, a series they lost in six games to the Milwaukee Bucks.
According to Draft Kings, the Suns have -600 odds to win the series against the Clippers, who have +400 odds. Game 1 between the teams will be Sunday at Footprint Center at a time to be determined.