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Clippers’ Griffin breaks hand punching team employee, out 4-to-6 more weeks

January 26, 2016
Blake Griffin will be out of action for three to four weeks. (AP)

Blake Griffin will be out of action for four to six more weeks. (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Blake Griffin fractured a bone in his right hand while throwing a punch in an altercation with a member of the Los Angeles Clippers’ staff on the road and will be out at least a month.

The team said Griffin underwent a procedure on his hand Tuesday after being sent back to Los Angeles from the Clippers’ five-game road trip. They are in Indianapolis to play the Pacers on Tuesday night.

In a joint statement, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and coach Doc Rivers, who is also president of basketball operations, said Griffin threw the punch last Saturday in Toronto.

They said Griffin has a spiral fracture of the fourth metacarpal in his hand.
“This conduct has no place in our organization and this incident does not represent who we are as a team,” the statement said. “We are conducting a full investigation with assistance from the NBA. At the conclusion of the investigation, appropriate action will be taken.”

Rivers is expected to discuss the incident before Tuesday night’s game.

Griffin had X-rays on Monday that revealed the injury. His recovery time is expected to be four-to-six weeks, meaning he will miss the All-Star game on Feb. 14 in Toronto, where he could have been picked as a reserve.

The altercation occurred just as Griffin was nearing a return from another injury. He has been out since Dec. 26 with a partially torn left quadriceps tendon.

Last fall, Griffin was involved in an altercation at a Las Vegas nightclub. A man accused the All-Star forward of taking his cellphone and grabbing him after the man photographed Clippers players inside the club. The misdemeanor battery case later was dropped after prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence.

The Clippers are 11-3 in Griffin’s absence and in second place with a 28-16 record in the Pacific Division.