Clippers' Paul George Not Expected to Undergo Surgery for Knee Injury

The Los Angeles Clippers announced Thursday that star forward Paul George is not expected to require surgery for the knee injury he suffered during Tuesday's 101-100 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

According to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, George's injury is a sprain with no torn ligaments. While surgery isn't on the table currently, George is expected to miss the rest of the regular season and will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks.

Clippers head coach Ty Lue looked at the situation positively, saying: "He's a little disappointed, as expected. But I think we got the best-case scenario as far as what we thought it could be. And so, being re-evaluated in two, three weeks is something that we are looking forward to."

On Tuesday, George had a knee-on-knee collision with Thunder wing Lu Dort, which resulted in George having to be carted off the court.

It looked at that moment that George may have suffered a serious injury that would keep him out for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs, but a postseason return is now considered a possibility.

At 39-35, the Clippers are fifth in the Western Conference, and they would be in the playoffs if the season ended today.

They are two games ahead of the seventh-place Minnesota Timberwolves, and 2.5 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers and Thunder, who all sit at 36-37.

The Clippers are in a tenuous position in terms of avoiding the play-in tournament, but finishing in the top six would give George some added time to heal up.

Even so, Youngmisuk noted that it would be "optimistic" to expect George back for the first round of the playoffs.

George is one half of the Clippers' superstar duo with Kawhi Leonard, but injuries have ravaged both of them during their four years together in L.A.

Neither George nor Leonard have reached the 60-game mark in a season during their time with the Clippers, which included George missing all but 31 games last season, and Leonard missing the entire 2021-22 campaign.

As a result, the Clippers have not enjoyed as much team success as hoped. They made the playoffs in each of their first two seasons with George and Leonard, including reaching the Western Conference Finals in 2021, but they missed the playoffs last season.

The Clips are trending toward a playoff berth this season. However, going on a deep run without George would be highly difficult.

George, 32, is an eight-time All-Star, six-time All-NBA selection and four-time NBA All-Defensive selection in 13 NBA seasons with the Indiana Pacers, Thunder and Clippers.

In 56 games this season, George averaged 23.8 points, 6.1 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 2.8 three-pointers made and 1.5 steals while shooting 45.7 percent from the field and 37.1 percent from beyond the arc.

That earned George an All-Star nod and further cemented him as the go-to guy when Leonard missed games periodically for knee injury management.

Now, much of the burden is on Leonard's shoulders, while the likes of Eric Gordon, Russell Westbrook, Terance Mann and others will have increased roles as well.