Paul George helped off court after apparent knee injury in Thunder-Clippers
The Los Angeles Clippers are holding their breath after Paul George exited Tuesday's game with an apparent knee injury.
The All-Star wing landed awkwardly after his leg collided with Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lu Dort while bringing down a rebound in the fourth quarter. The knee appeared to buckle, which you can see here.
George immediately fell to the floor and was in clear pain. He was eventually helped off the court by Clippers staffers:
Scary looking scene as PG leaves while aided by team staffers. pic.twitter.com/TbpblD04k9
— Andrew Greif (@AndrewGreif) March 22, 2023
George had 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in 34 minutes at the time of his exit. Two of those points came on a highlight-reel 360 dunk.
The Clippers would later lose 101-100.
ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported after the game that George was carted out of the arena, while Law Murray of the The Athletic said he was on crutches before leaving.
With only nine games left to go in the regular season after Tuesday, a serious injury to George would be a massive blow for the Clippers. The team currently sits in fifth place in the Western Conference at 38-35 and is 1.5 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for seventh place, which would land it in the play-in tournament.
Managing the health of George and Kawhi Leonard has been a persistent obstacle since the two All-Stars first joined the team, but this season had been shaping up to be fairly stable injury-wise after Leonard's return from an ACL tear sustained in the 2021 postseason. In 55 games entering Tuesday, George had been averaging 23.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 45.6% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range.