Injuries just keep piling up for the Los Angeles Clippers. The team’s best player, All-Star forward Blake Griffin suffered an MCL sprain in his left knee in the last five minutes of Monday’s win against the Los Angeles Lakers. On Tuesday, the Clippers have issued an official statement following Griffin’s injury and announced he could miss up to eight weeks recovering. Luckily for Blake and the Clippers, there was no further damage to the knee.
?Press Release?
Blake Griffin, who left last night’s game ? the Lakers in the 4th quarter due to a left knee injury underwent an MRI which revealed a Medial Collateral Ligament (MCL) sprain w/ no other structural damage to his knee. Recovery for this injury can take up to 8wks— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 28, 2017
After the injury occurred, Griffin stayed on the court for 50 seconds or so, trying a hook-shot, before leaving the game.
With Chris Paul out of the city, Blake Griffin emerged as a leader of the Clippers and their biggest star alongside center DeAndre Jordan. Griffin signed a five-year, $173 million contract extension with the team in July 2017. Before the injury, he averaged 23.6 points and 7.9 rebounds per game in this season.
The Clippers selected Griffin in 2009 NBA draft with a first overall pick. After winning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award, he developed in an All-Star player. Unfortunately, over the past three years, Griffin struggled to stay healthy, missing total of 89 regular season games. His most recent injury was in Game 3 of Western Conference First Round against the Utah Jazz, which ruled him out for the remainder of the series.
Now, the Los Angeles Clippers have 4 injured players, all of them being valuable contributors. Besides Griffin, point guard Patrick Beverly recently suffered an injury and ended up being ruled out for the remainder of the season. Previously, Danilo Gallinari and Milos Teodosic were sidelined, and their return isn’t expected for at least two weeks.
To make things worse, the Clippers are currently 10th in the Western Conference with an 8-11 record. Previous to the win against the Lakers, they were on nine games losing streak. Without Griffin, the free fall is likely to continue.
