Rowan Kavner
SHENZHEN, China - Clippers guard Austin Rivers will likely miss the Clippers’ two preseason games in China after suffering an injury to his mouth in practice Friday.
Rivers said he had five teeth on the bottom row of his mouth knocked out and put back in place surgically after catching an inadvertent elbow from Branden Dawson as the rookie went up for a dunk in a scrimmage.
Rivers is expected to be reevaluated when the team returns to Los Angeles on Oct. 15.
“It just hit me right in the mouth,” Rivers said. “They brought me into surgery, just numbed my whole face, it took like two and a half hours.”
Rivers said he was able to locate the teeth he lost, and they were put back in place. He said he has lost a tooth before, but this was different.
“Not like that,” Rivers said. “I lost one and I felt the other ones push back into my mouth. So they were all in my mouth barely connected, just hanging around.”
Rivers said he expects to be ready to go when the device holding his teeth in place is removed next week. In the meantime, Rivers will not participate in contact drills in practice.
“It just hurts right now,” Rivers said.