Clippers' J.J. Redick out 6-8 weeks after suffering fracture in right hand
J.J. Redick is averaging a career-best 15.8 points per game. in his first season with the Clippers. (Bill Baptist/NBAE via Getty Images)
The Clippers announced Sunday that starting shooting guard J.J. Redick will miss six-to-eight weeks after suffering a fracture in his right hand and ligament tear in his elbow.
Redick, who has started every game for Los Angeles this season after joining the team in an offseason trade, was injured in the second quarter of the Clippers' 104-98 overtime win over the Kings on Friday. According to a team release, Redick suffered a fracture in the small bone (pisiform) of his right hand and a tear of his ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) in his elbow.
The injury occurred when Redick tried to break his fall after colliding midair with Kings center DeMarcus Cousins (who, ironically, refused to shake Redick's broken hand after the game). You can see Redick suffering the injury at 0:14 of the video below:
Redick will be re-evaluated by a hand specialist on Monday to determine further treatment. If the shooting guard misses six weeks, the team's minimum estimate, he will be out the next 20 games.
The seventh-year guard is averaging a career-best 15.8 points per game for the Clippers while shooting 46.0 percent from the field and 35.9 percent from 3-point range (1.9 threes made per game). He's been Los Angeles' second-best offensive player (120 offensive rating, according to basketball-reference.com) this season, trailing only Chris Paul (125)
Doc Rivers said veteran shooting guard Willie Green will take Redick's place in the starting lineup, a role he occupied for 60 of the 72 games he played for the Clippers last season. This year has been a different story for the 10th-year man, who has played in just five games and averaged 10.8 minutes per contest.
But Green has proved to be capable three-point specialist in the past, something the Clippers will need with Redick out. Last year, Green hit 42.8 percent of his attempts from deep and made 44.2 percent of his three-point attempts in Atlanta the year before.
Moving Green into the starting lineup also enables Rivers to continue to bring Jamal Crawford off the bench in his customary sixth man role. Crawford has seen his minutes slightly decline this year due to the arrival of J.J. Redick and others, but he's still averaging 15.8 points per game, tied with Redick for third-most on the team, and hitting 46.4 percent of his shots.
Darren Collison
