Caron Butler Injury: Updates on Clippers Forward's Back

The Los Angeles Clippers received bad news in Sunday afternoon's matchup against the New York Knicks, as Caron Butler was forced to leave the game. 

UPDATE: Monday, Feb. 11, at 4:28 p.m. ET by Richard Langford

Reportedly, Butler will not be playing Monday night as the Clippers take on the 76ers in Philadelphia. 

CBS Sports' Ken Berger hits us with the report: 

---End of update---

From the team's official Twitter account:

Of course, this is nothing new for the Clippers, a team that has been plagued by injuries all season long, as Arash Markazi of ESPN noted:

Chauncey Billups, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Jamal Crawford all recently returned from injuries, and the team was looking forward to being as close to full strength as it has been in some time.

Those good times didn't last long.

Still, this is hopefully as advertised and simply a "sore" lower back. Butler is an important player for the Clippers, especially as a defender on the wing, and a lengthy absence would be costly.

For the season, Butler is averaging 10 points, an assist and 2.9 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game.

The injuries have taken their toll. Coming into Sunday's contest, the Clippers had lost four of five games and eight of 11. 

Despite the recent run of poor play, the Clippers are still 35-17 and currently in third place in the Western Conference. 

I would imagine this injury would be a day-to-day situation with Butler and wouldn't cost him anything more than a game, if that. The major concern is that this will be a nagging injury that will continue to limit him going forward, but for now it's simply a sore back.

For a team desperately trying to return to its winning ways earlier in the season, it's an all-hands-on-deck situation.