Paul George helped off court after apparent knee injury in Thunder-Clippers

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 21: Paul George #13 of the Los Angeles Clippers suffers an apparent knee injury during a basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at Crypto.com Arena on March 21, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
Not what the Clippers wanted to see with the end of the regular season only a few weeks away. (Photo by Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)

The Los Angeles Clippers are holding their breath after Paul George exited Tuesday's game with an apparent knee injury.

The All-Star wing landed awkwardly after his leg collided with Oklahoma City Thunder guard Lu Dort while bringing down a rebound in the fourth quarter. The knee appeared to buckle, which you can see here.

George immediately fell to the floor and was in clear pain. He was eventually helped off the court by Clippers staffers:

George had 18 points on 9-of-17 shooting with seven rebounds, five assists and three steals in 34 minutes at the time of his exit. Two of those points came on a highlight-reel 360 dunk.

The Clippers would later lose 101-100.

ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported after the game that George was carted out of the arena, while Law Murray of the The Athletic said he was on crutches before leaving.

With only nine games left to go in the regular season after Tuesday, a serious injury to George would be a massive blow for the Clippers. The team currently sits in fifth place in the Western Conference at 38-35 and is 1.5 games ahead of the Dallas Mavericks for seventh place, which would land it in the play-in tournament.

Managing the health of George and Kawhi Leonard has been a persistent obstacle since the two All-Stars first joined the team, but this season had been shaping up to be fairly stable injury-wise after Leonard's return from an ACL tear sustained in the 2021 postseason. In 55 games entering Tuesday, George had been averaging 23.9 points, 6.1 rebounds and 5.1 assists while shooting 45.6% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range.