With All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Los Angeles Clippers have the potential to be one of the best teams in the NBA. Yet, we’ve rarely seen the two stud scoring, defending wings at full strength.
Still, the Clips managed to snag the fifth seed in the Western Conference, pitting them against Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and the rest of the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA playoffs. It’s already a tough matchup on paper.
Only now we’ve learned the Clippers may not have PG13 at all for the best-of-seven playoff series against Phoenix. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, George is expected to miss the entire first-round playoff series as he deals with the sprained right knee suffered on March 21.
- Paul George stats this season: 23.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 5.1 APG, 1.5 SPG
It’s a huge loss for coach Tyronn Lue and the rest of the Clippers squad as they take on a very formidable opponent. Instead of being able to rely on the eight-time All-Star taking his normal place in the starting lineup, the Clippers are expected to rely more on veterans such as Eric Gordon and Nicolas Batum, who have tons of playoff experience.
Perhaps we’ll even see more inspired performances from Russell Westbrook, who’s averaged 19.2 points per game, while dishing out eight assists per game since George went down with injury. Either way, the Clippers will need a full team effort to try replacing their sidelined star, if they have any plans on advancing past the first round.
Related: NBA playoffs: Will Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard return to peak playoff form?