Bad news for Paul George

The first round of playoffs has already a highlight in the West: Phoenix Suns-Los Angeles Clippers. It is the first duel in playoffs between Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard since the 2019 Finals, when the Raptors beat the Warriors with the former’s injury as a key factor in the outcome of the fight for the ring. Yes of course, the first Durant-Russell Westbrook in playoffsseven years after KD decided to leave the OKC Thunder and sign for Golden State Warriors.

The Suns are, of course, one of the favorites to the ring since the arrival of Durant. The forward has transformed a project that seemed to be going downhill after coming very close to the title in 2021, when the Bucks came back from 2-0. With him and Devin Booker supported by Chris Paul and Deandre AytonThose from Arizona are for many the great candidate to reach the Finals from the West. The Clippers are in their fourth year since reuniting Kawhi and Paul George. They are waiting for a course in which things work out for them so as not to spend another bullet on a project of maximum ambition that, until now, always ends up falling short.

But the series, which starts on Sunday night, comes with bad news for Angelenos: Paul George will not be in the first games and there are chances that he will not be ready to return to the courts in the whole tie. It is a crucial casualty, of course. Without him, the Clippers have avoided the play-in and they have finished fifth in the West. But to take on a Durant-led team, they obviously need all the ammunition they can get.

George hasn’t played since on March 21. He suffered a very nasty knee injury in a game against the Thunder. The tests ruled out major mishaps, but George is still off the slopes, in the recovery phase when his team faces the decisive moment of the course. He timing Initially, he spoke of deadlines that made it possible to think that he could reach this first round of the qualifiers.

He, for his part, explained on his podcast how things are going: “My leg is going well, I’m making progress. First two crutches, then one, and then none. I’m killing myself, working to come back. Every day, literally. Rehabilitation, preparation… I am going to give everything, to do everything that depends on me to return. At nine I’m up, at ten I’m already in therapy until one or two in the afternoon.