The clippers piled off the bus one by one on a Saturday afternoon wearing their practice gear, but they were missing an important part of their team in injured Russell Westbrook.
Westbrook suffered a broken left hand during the first half of the game. Clippers victory against the Washington Wizards on Friday night at Crypto.com Arena. His status has remained the same: He is out for the game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday afternoon and plans to miss four to six weeks with an injury of this nature.
The good news for the Clippers is that center Ivica Zubac made the three-game trip. He had missed the last two games due to an undisclosed illness.
He is listed as questionable for the game.
“I hope I can play,” Zubac said. “I didn’t come all this way to not play. But I guess it depends on the medical staff, but I hope I can play.
Westbrook played in all 58 games this season and brought his competitive flair to the game and in practice.
The Clippers will miss this, coach Tyronn Lue said before his team practiced Saturday at Mayo Clinic Square.
“Russ plays every night, so just seeing him go through something like this is tough for everyone,” Lue said. “He wants to be involved in practices, in games, in everything.”
That means Bones Hyland, who only played 20 games this season because he was out of a deep rotation, will get more playing time. It also means forward Paul George will “handle the ball more “.
“So we have different guys that can handle the ball, bring it up and get us going about our business,” Lue said. “But we miss Russ.”
