Los Angeles Clippers’ Paul George acknowledged that his right toe injury could linger for the rest of the season, but he wants to play with “minimal pain.”
George returned to play on April 1 after missing two games with what was listed as right foot soreness.
He shot 5-of-15 from the field and scored 17 points along with eight rebounds and five assists in 32 minutes.
“It is a day-to-day process, but I’m doing better,” George said after the game. “We are trying to figure it out now. Honestly, we’re trying to get on top of it now. Hasn’t seemed to go away yet. But at this point it is just managing the soreness and swelling.”
George missed seven consecutive games in February because of what was diagnosed as bone edema in his toe.
The 30-year-old said that he had difficulty pushing off on the toe injury and recently, it has also impacted his ability to finish on drives, as it is limiting his explosiveness.
“There really is no pop on the right foot, because I can’t really bend my toe and I had it flexing all the way on that second toe,” said George. “Just figuring it out. I got to figure it out. Most importantly, if I can play and playing with minimal pain, that is what I am going for. But we got to figure it out, though.”
It’s likely that George sits out one game of a back-to-back set for the rest of the season.
In 37 games, George is averaging 22.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game, while shooting 46.9 percent from the field and 42.2 percent from three-point.
