Scottie Barnes is not the only player to suffer a fractured left hand during Friday night’s slate of NBA games. During the matchup between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Wizards at Crypto.com Arena, Clippers guard Russell Westbrook left the game and got ruled out for suffering the same injury that ended Barnes’ night.
Clippers guard Russell Westbrook has a fractured left hand, team says.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) March 2, 2024
Unlike Barnes, who pretty clearly hurt his hand against the Golden State Warriors, it was much harder to see when Westbrook got hurt. But thanks to Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, we saw that Westbrook appeared to get banged up early in the second quarter while trying to poke the ball away from Jordan Poole. He managed to stay in the game for another two minutes or so before exiting.
Here’s the play where it appears that Russell Westbrook suffer his hand injury. He grabs at and flexes his hand multiple times immediately after trying to poke the ball out of Jordan Poole’s hands. https://t.co/we7FFBzDxX pic.twitter.com/vqgUTDt7px
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 2, 2024
While Westbrook is no longer the all-encompassing force he was earlier in his career, Ty Lue has trusted him to serve as the team’s backup point guard this year. With his injury, it is easy to assume that a path will open up for young guard Bones Hyland — who was put on leave prior to the All-Star break but has returned to the Clippers — to get more minutes.
On the year, Westbrook is averaging 11.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 22.8 minutes per game.