LOS ANGELES — Clippers star Paul George has entered the NBA's health and safety protocols and will miss Friday's game against New Orleans to decide the Western Conference's eighth and final playoff spot.
George hadn't felt well Thursday and the team learned he had entered the NBA's COVID-related protocols Friday morning before a shoot-around at the team's Playa Vista practice facility, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank told reporters.
George scored a game-high 34 points in the Clippers' loss Tuesday to Minnesota in the first game of the play-in tournament, a result that left the Clippers needing to beat New Orleans at Crypto.com Arena to advance to a first-round series against top-seeded Phoenix.