Los Angeles Clippers: Avery Bradley injury derails postseason push

The Los Angeles Clippers have battled injury all season long. The most recent injury to Avery Bradley may harm the team the most.

Man, you got to feel bad for the Los Angeles Clippers. LA lost Chris Paul before the season began, signed Blake Griffin to a massive contract only to trade him. Yet still, these star-less Clippers have been right in the mix of the playoffs, trailing the eighth-seeded Denver Nuggets by just one game.

This is after a myriad of injuries that would have derailed any other team. Patrick Beverley has been out nearly the entire year following a knee injury. Danilo Gallinari has been in and out of the roster with several injuries. Milos Teodosic missed some time, rookie point guard Jawun Evans has been out since late January with a sports hernia.

The latest injury, though, may be the most impactful. New guard Avery Bradley suffered the same kind of sports hernia as Evans and is expected to be out 1-3 weeks. As we have seen with Evans, though, the timetable could be longer.

And despite all of the adversity, all of the obstacles the Los Angeles Clippers have overcome, this latest injury may be the final dagger in the team’s playoff hopes.

Avery Bradley has been big for the Los Angeles Clippers after the team traded away Blake Griffin. Bradley has brought the elite defense in the backcourt that Beverley was supposed to provide. While he is only averaging 9.2 points per game, the Clippers are 5-1 with Bradley. Bradley averages a 5.8 +/- and a 9.8 +/- in Clippers’ wins.

While the Clippers may be able to cushion the blow with Lou Williams at shooting guard, the entire backcourt is going to be shuffled. Starting point guard Austin Rivers is likely going to have to play at the two, Milos Teodosic is going to have to see more minutes on the court.

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It is a good thing the Clippers added depth, but this three-man rotation in the backcourt, which I would not consider necessarily good at defending, will cause problems.

Earlier in the season, I think the Clippers could have gotten away with this, teams tend to coast in January and February. However, in the heart of a postseason run, this loss is huge. The Utah Jazz is the hottest team in basketball right now. The New Orleans Pelicans are on a five-game winning streak despite not having DeMarcus Cousins.

Portland, Oklahoma City, Denver, Minnesota and San Antonio are all within 3.5 games of the Clippers (side note: it is crazy that the ninth seed is just 3.5 games back of the third seed). But I would argue that all of those teams are far more talented than the Clippers, especially now with Bradley out.

Next: Clippers' most important games of the second half

Thus, this injury could not have come at a worse time for the Los Angeles Clippers. Hopefully, the Clippers can prove me wrong and give LA another year of playoff basketball. If they don’t, though, this will be the first time since the 2004-2005 season in which neither LA team makes the playoffs.