After suffering a quad injury on Christmas night, Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin seemed set to return sometime during the team’s current road trip or soon after. But in the midst of a postgame report in Oakland Monday night, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that Griffin was now dealing with a right hand injury in a “team-related incident.”
ESPN sources tell @ramonashelburne and I that Blake Griffin has suffered suspected broken hand in undisclosed team-related incident
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 26, 2016
Now some clarity has come, with further reporting from ESPN’s Michael Eaves that Griffin injured his hand after hitting a member of the Clippers’ equipment staff during the team’s trip to Toronto. The incident reportedly left the equipment staffer with an injured face, and Griffin may be dealing with a broken hand.
Ahead of Tuesday night’s game against the Indiana Pacers, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers avoided specific comments about Griffin’s injury while suggesting a statement on the situation would be issued closer to game time. At that point, the nature of Griffin’s injury may be disclosed and some sort of in-house discipline could also come.
If Griffin suffered a broken hand, he could be out another 4-6 weeks. The Clippers have won 11 of 14 games since he was injured, but being without one of their best players longer than initially expected puts their status as a top-half seed in the Western Conference in question.
Griffin’s likely prolonged absence should not take the Clippers out of the playoffs completely, and they are currently eight games ahead of the Sacramento Kings for second place in the Pacific Division. But his bad judgement does absolutely jeopardize their chances for home-court advantage in a first-round series, which may be enough to keep the Clippers from making a deep playoff run when it’s all said and done.
