PHOENIX — Though frustrated, Paul George said he’s determined to remain optimistic.
In his first interview with reporters since he suffered a frightening right knee sprain in a March 21 loss to Oklahoma City, George bemoaned being unable to contribute on the court to a Clippers team that found itself trailing the heavily favored Phoenix Suns, 3-1 – without its two best players
Kawhi Leonard joined George on the sideline last week, out with what’s also being characterized as a sprained right knee. He played in the first two games of the Western Conference first-round playoff series, leading the Clippers to a Game 1 victory, before being ruled out.
The team is calling Leonard day to day, but there’s been little indication he’s close to returning. He was ruled for Game 5 on Monday evening.
George, an eight-time All-Star wing, has been spotted going through basketball drills at Clippers’ practices and shootaround, but he said he’s been eyeing a six-week minimum timeframe for a possible return: “It’ll ultimately be me fighting the medical on being cleared or can I play or can I give it a go. But … just from a standpoint of the minimum time that I needed to recover, if I feel good right at that six-week mark, I’m lacin’ ’em up.”
That hope, of course, might be moot if the Clippers lose Tuesday night at Footprint Center.
“Praying,” George said, “these guys extend it for me and buy me a little more time and be able to be back to full strength.”
Paul George suffered a knee sprain exactly five weeks ago: “If I feel good right at that six-week mark, I’m lacin’ ‘em up.”
The Clippers play an elimination Game 5 in Phoenix without both PG and Kawhi Leonard tonight. pic.twitter.com/yNk0bvqbZu
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) April 25, 2023
If the Clippers’ season ends before George can return, he was philosophical about the team’s future prospects, despite several seasons of disappointment since he and Leonard teamed up in 2019, both homegrown Southern California talents hoping to bring a championship to a team that has yet to win one. Ill-timed injuries have been at the root of most of the team’s shortcomings in their four seasons together.
After the Clippers blew a 3-1 series lead in their Western Conference semifinals matchup with the Denver Nuggets in the Florida bubble in 2020, George and Leonard’s first season together on the team, they’ve had injuries thwart any serious title contention.
In 2021, the Clippers lost Leonard to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the second round and advanced to the Western Conference finals, pushing the Suns to six games before petering out.
Without Leonard for all of last season and George for most of it – including when he was out because of COVID-19 health and safety protocols in their final fateful play-in game defeat to the New Orleans Pelicans – the Clippers missed the playoffs with a pair of play-in losses.
And this season, the Clippers have had to play the past 12 games without George – before being hit with the news of Leonard’s knee injury when this first-round series was knotted, 1-1. The two-time NBA Finals MVP showed no apparent signs of injury in the Game 2 loss, finishing with 31 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in 39 minutes.
“It’s super frustrating,” George said before Clippers’ shootaround Tuesday. “To put so much into the season, put so much into this group, and (for) the organization to put so much into making a team that could compete and again, year after year, just getting zapped by injuries, it’s frustrating.
“That wasn’t the reason I came here, I know it wasn’t the reason (Leonard) came here. We obviously had big plans to win and do something special for Clipper Nation, but I’m a big believer of everything happens for a reason and you just pick up the pieces and try to make a hand out of what you dealt with. So that’s just how I remain positive. I’m very optimistic that our time will come.”
George also vouched for Leonard, whose injury designation, announced just hours before Game 3 at Crytpo.com Arena was a surprise to those outside of the organization.
“What people don’t understand is Kawhi is a trooper, man,” George said. “Kawhi is willing to put it on the line. The fact that he got hurt Game 1, tried to play through it Game 2 and people think that he’s out ’cause he doesn’t want to play – it just attacks his character, where people don’t understand: It’s got to be a reason why he’s out.
“He wants to be out there with us and he wants to be out there to lead. And at the end of the day, all of this is a part of our legacy and at the end of the day we want the best legacy that we can create for ourselves and for family. So I know it hurts him not to be able to be on that floor and continue to lead how he was.”
Paul George on injury frustrations: “I’m a big believer in everything happens for a reason. You just pick up the piece and try to make a hand out of what you’re dealt.” pic.twitter.com/Ayr4Q79074
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) April 25, 2023
