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No More Surgeries Expected For Clippers In Summer

Rowan Kavner Digital Content Coordinator

LOS ANGELES – After all the hand, quad, heel, ankle, feet and eye injuries a team could handle, the Clippers finally got some good news on the health front.

Head coach Doc Rivers said during exit interviews the Clippers shouldn’t have any other surgeries to deal with this offseason.

“I know they’re doing their evaluations,” Rivers said. “I think they have some more to do, but I think this summer we’re surgery-free, that I know of.”

Of course, that news comes after Chris Paul’s hand surgery for a fractured third metacarpal on his right hand and Blake Griffin’s procedure on his quad. But, it appears those will be the end of the Clippers’ procedures heading into the summer.

Rivers said Griffin may not be healthy early on this summer, but “he’ll be healthy way before training camp.”

“A lot of guys have done this,” Rivers said of Griffin’s bone marrow procedure. “The procedure’s not that big of a deal, it’s just I know when you do it, I think there’s non-weight bearing involved, and that slows the process. Obviously, if you can’t put weight on something, it’s tough to heal it.”

Rivers said that likely leaves Griffin out for the Olympics, and Paul removed his name from consideration for the Olympics before he was injured. But Rivers said DeAndre Jordan, who also participated in last summer’s Olympics minicamp in Las Vegas, is still a candidate to play if he’s selected among the final 12 players.

From Paul’s hand, to Griffin’s quad, to J.J. Redick’s heel, to Jordan’s ankle, to Wesley Johnson’s feet, to Austin Rivers’ eye, the Clippers ended the season battered, broken and bruised. But, whichever players remain with the Clippers next year, their injuries should all be in the rearview when the 2016-17 season starts up.