Paul George scored 34 points in the Clippers’ Play-In Tournament opener Tuesday.
Paul George has entered the NBA’s Health and Safety Protocols and will miss the Los Angeles Clippers’ play-in game against New Orleans on Friday night (10 ET, TNT), according to a team spokesman.
Dennis Rogers said George is unavailable for the elimination game at Crypto.com Arena.
The winner of that game — in which the eighth-seeded Clippers are hosting the ninth-seeded Pelicans — will earn the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs.
George’s absence comes in a season in which he was limited to just 31 games because of an elbow injury that kept him out three months. He played in five of the Clippers’ last seven regular season games, averaging 22.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 2.8 steals per game during that span.
In the Clippers’ Play-In Tournament opener on Tuesday against Minnesota, George finished with a team-high 34 points (10-24 FG) as well as seven rebounds and five assists in a 109-104 loss.
Overall this season, George is averaging 24.3 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 5.7 apg and 2.2 spg. Besides George, the Clippers were already without Kawhi Leonard, who hasn’t played all season while rehabbing from an ACL tear.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.