Los Angeles Clippers guard Russell Westbrook suffered a fractured left hand during Friday night's 140-115 win against the Washington Wizards, the team announced. Westbrook was ruled out for the remainder of Friday's matchup, and, on Monday, he underwent surgery on the injured hand, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Per the report, the Clippers hope that Westbrook can return before the start of playoffs in April. Entering Monday, the Clippers were the No. 4 seed in the West and 2.5 games out of the conference's top seed.
At the time of the injury, the nine-time All-Star had scored six points and dished out one assist in 10 minutes.
"Just feel bad for Russ right now," Clippers coach Ty Lue said. "So we don't know what timetable, don't know if he needs surgery or anything yet. But he's out right now. So just trying to figure it out."
The injury appeared to take place early in the second quarter, as Westbrook attempted to poke the ball loose from Wizards guard Jordan Poole. Westbrook immediately grabbed his hand afterward, but remained in the game for two more minutes before being subbed out and heading to the locker room.
Here’s the play where it appears that Russell Westbrook suffer his hand injury. He grabs at and flexes his hand multiple times immediately after trying to poke the ball out of Jordan Poole’s hands. https://t.co/we7FFBzDxX pic.twitter.com/vqgUTDt7px
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 2, 2024
The NBA's all-time leader in career triple-doubles, Westbrook has settled into a sixth man role with the Clippers after the acquisition of James Harden in late October. He's averaged 10.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists off the bench this season in just over 21 minutes per game. More importantly, Westbrook has increased the pace and provided a dose of unpredictability for a Clippers team that has a habit of getting stagnant offensively.
While the health of Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George is paramount to the Clippers' title hopes, Westbrook is an important piece that the team will have trouble replacing if he misses extended time. The regular starting lineup has been phenomenal (plus-12.6 points per 100 possessions), but after trading away much of their depth in the Harden deal, the Clippers have few reliable ball-handlers outside of their "Big Three" if Westbrook is out of the equation.
Head coach Tyronn Lue will likely start by giving the majority of Westbrook's minutes to third-year guard Bones Hyland, who has played sparingly this season. Hyland has the ability to get hot quickly, but lacks the experience and physicality that Westbrook has brought to the table for most of the season. While Westbrook has been polarizing and inconsistent at times this season, the Clippers certainly hope that they'll have one of their key rotation pieces back healthy by the time the playoffs roll around.
