NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Houston Rockets guard Chris Paul will miss Friday’s scheduled NBA game against his former club, the Los Angeles Clippers, due to a sore thigh, the NBA win-leading Rockets announced Thursday.
Paul suffered the adductor muscle injury in the fourth quarter of a 122-116 home loss Wednesday to the Los Angeles Lakers, a defeat that snapped Houston’s 14-game win streak.
It was the first loss in a Rockets’ uniform for Paul, who missed a month of the NBA season with a bruised left knee suffered in Houston’s season-opening victory over the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
Nine-time All-Star point guard Paul is averaging 17.1 points, 9.0 assists, 5.4 rebounds and 2.1 steals over 16 games for the Rockets this season.
Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni said Paul’s status remains day to day but the team will be careful about his return.
“We’re going to be real cautious with it,” D’Antoni said. “The good thing is he shut it down immediately.”
The Rockets own the NBA’s best record at 25-5 while the Clippers are 10th in the Western Conference at 12-18.
Paul, who is 32, departed the Clippers in the off-season to join the Rockets and star scorer James Harden. Paul, who helped the US team to gold medals at the 2008 Beijing and 2012 London Olympics, spent six seasons with the Clippers.
© Agence France-Presse