New details emerge on potential Paul George return date

The LA Clippers have had a fantastic season all things considered, and some good news could be on the way soon for the franchise. Star forward Paul George, who has been out since December 25th, could be on his way back.

Clippers Potential Paul George Return Date

Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports on the NBA on TNT broadcast of Clippers-Suns Tuesday night:

“Paul George, who has been sidelines for almost 2 months, is set to have an MRI on his right elbow on February 24th. And if all is clean, sources told me they expect the star to go through approximately a two-week ramp up period. If there are no setbacks, George could return as early as the second week of March.”

This is the first report out there of a potential return date for Paul George, who has been out since December 25th with the torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. George was set to miss three-to-four weeks to rest the elbow and see how it heals. Once those four weeks were up, the Clippers added an additional four weeks before scheduling an MRI on the first day back after the All-Star break, February 24th.

A return in the second week of March would mean Paul George misses approximately 10 weeks with the elbow injury and have about a month until the regular season ends.

Obviously, the Clippers would love to have George back, but the team will continue to play it safe if that’s what they deem necessary.

The Clippers have just one game remaining until the All-Star break, which leaves them with 21 games after the break, by far the fewest in the league. The Clippers are 29-31, sitting in the eighth seed in the Western Conference. They have the 10th easiest remaining strength of schedule, per Tankathon, which sheds a positive light on their rest of season outlook.

The team has also provided no updates on Kawhi Leonard, but reports have claimed that the two-time NBA Finals MVP is ahead in his recovery from ACL surgery and could return at some point in March as well.

In 26 appearances this season, Paul George averaged 24.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 5.5 assists, and 2.0 steals per game. He got off to a fantastic start, which both he and the Clippers thought would be enough for him to notch a spot in the 2022 NBA All-Star Game.

Comments

From Deep: At long last, Nikola Jokic's Nuggets can envision getting to the top of the mountain

Jamal Murray tore his ACL on April 12, 2021. Leading up to that night, he'd been playing at an All-NBA level for two months: In a 25-game stretch, Murray averaged 24.1 points on .509/.459/.935 shooting splits, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists. He was even more efficient than he was in the bubble playoffs, and his defense had improved, too. Murray only got to play with Aaron Gordon, the Denver Nuggets' big trade-deadline addition, for five games. They won them all except the one in which Murray got injured. In 110 minutes, their new starting five scored slightly more efficiently than any iteration of the Kevin Durant-era death lineup in Golden State and defended like a top-five team. Two Nikola Jokic MVP awards later, Murray is back. So is Michael Porter Jr., who signed a five-year extension about a year ago and needed back surgery nine games into the 2020-21 season. The Nuggets remember how easily everything slid into place with Gordon in the mix. Newcomer Kentavious Caldwell-Pop...

LeBron James says he has 'no relationship' with Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

It's not a matter of if LeBron James passes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the No. 1 spot on the NBA's all-time scoring list, it's when. James sits just 1,326 points away from passing the Hall of Famer and Los Angeles Lakers legend, a milestone that should happen at some point this season given James is still performing at peak levels and is coming off a year in which he averaged over 30 points a night. If he averages around the same amount of points as he did a season ago for the Lakers, James could break the record somewhere in the middle of the season, assuming he stays healthy. It's a highly anticipated moment heading into the season, but in regards to LeBron's thoughts about and his relationship with Abdul-Jabbar, he didn't have much to say on the matter. Following the Lakers first preseason game Monday night, a reporter asked James what his thoughts were on the Lakers legend and if the two had any relationship, to which LeBron gave a very short answer. "No...

Klay Thompson to sit out Warriors preseason games in Japan as Kerr says he needs more time to ramp-up

Klay Thompson may have returned healthy to the Golden State Warriors last season, but the scars from his two missed seasons are still quite visible. The Warriors played their first of two preseason games against the Washington Wizards on Friday and will play another on Sunday, but Warriors coach Steve Kerr said that Thompson will not be playing at all during the trip to Japan. "Just feel more comfortable giving him a little more of a ramp up," Kerr said before Friday's victory over Washington. "He's just not quite ready to play at this point just based on where, you know, we're so early in camp. We just want to be safe and make sure he gets a good ramp-up before he plays in games." Typically, so little time to ramp up wouldn't be a problem for a veteran in a preseason context. The games tend to be so low-impact and demand so few minutes out of a team's best players that they can safely jog through them. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green played 1...

Crossover World

Search This Blog