Photo: Los Angeles Clippers/Twitter

Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George took a premature leave on his team’s 101-100 Tuesday loss against the Oklahoma City Thunder due to a freaky right leg injury.

George initially collided his knee against Lu Dort for a tight rebound battle and went on to land his right leg awkwardly, as if it was a hyperextension similar to what Giannis Antetokounmpo sustained in the 2021 Eastern Conference Finals.

George, who had 18 points, was escorted out of the floor with 4:38 remaining in regulation, a tied ball game. OKC went on to win the game in a thriller behind the heroics of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the defensive masterclass of Dort over Kawhi Leonard in the last possession.

Given the ugly look of the injury, the entire Clippers are holding their breath with regard to George’s status. With the loss, they moved to 38-35 and just led a game over the Golden State Warriors in the fifth spot of the West ladder.

L.A. got nine games left to their regular season, and a probable long-term injury for George would wallop their chances to still compete for a championship.

“Next man up. We’ll see,” Leonard said in postgame on how the Clippers will approach George’s potential absence. “We got a group of guys that still wanna win… We’ll see what happens.”