Guard Russell Westbrook of the LA Clippers has a fractured hand. Russell Westbrook has a fractured left hand, the Los Angeles Clippers announced during their game against the Washington Wizards on Friday night. After playing 10 minutes in the first half against Washington, Westbrook was declared ineligible for the remainder of the match at halftime and is expected to miss several weeks.
Since joining the Clippers, Westbrook has participated in 78 games without missing any. With this diagnosis, that streak is probably coming to an end. Being a player that plays in every game and is one of the NBA’s most resilient players makes an injury like this even more frustrating.
How would Westbrook’s absence affect Clippers?
When he speaks to the media following the game, Clippers head coach Ty Lue will probably discuss what he knows about the injury, but for the time being it appears like Westbrook will be out for a few weeks. It will be up to the Clippers to decide who plays as Westbrook’s backup point guard; rookie guard Bones Hyland will probably be the next player up in LA. Throughout the second half of Friday night’s game, Hyland filled in as the backup point guard.
The Clippers, who have frequently depended on Westbrook’s scoring, vigor, playmaking, and defense to help turn games around, are severely hurt by this. The Clippers will now need to find alternative means to produce that performance without their backup point guard.