Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs with a right toe injury

Los Angeles Clippers forward Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the playoffs with a right toe injury suffered in Friday night’s Game 3 win over the Utah Jazz. The Clippers announced the diagnosis and timetable on Saturday morning, calling the injury one “to the plantar plate of his right big toe.”

Griffin suffered the injury on a drive to the basket late in the first half of the Clippers’ 111-106 win. He collided with Utah’s Rodney Hood, and came up limping after making the layup in transition. He then slapped a chair on the bench before exiting the court and heading to the locker room.

It’s the second straight year that Griffin has sustained a postseason-ending injury during the playoffs. Griffin re-aggravated a quad injury in last season’s first round. The Clippers were also crushed by an injury to Chris Paul last year, and fell to the Portland Trail Blazers in the opening round.

With everybody healthy, the Clippers had hopes of challenging the Golden State Warriors in the second round of this year’s playoffs. Those hopes take a major hit with Griffin unable to play.

Paul led Los Angeles back from a second-half deficit with a fourth-quarter takeover on Friday, and the No. 4 seed in the West now holds a 2-1 series lead over the Jazz. But moving forward without Griffin will be tough for L.A. The power forward averaged 21.6 points and 8.1 rebounds during the regular season, and had scored 26 and 24 in Games 1 and 2, respectively.

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Griffin also missed extended time in December and January with a knee injury. In the 18 games he missed as a result, the Clippers finished 10-8. During the regular season, they outscored opponents by 10.6 points per 100 possessions with Griffin and were outscored by 2.4 points per 100 without him.

Utah is dealing with a major injury of its own. Star center Rudy Gobert was injured on the first play of the series, missing Games 2 and 3. Gobert impacted Utah’s success more than Griffin did in L.A. during the regular season, so if both are sidelined, the series remains up in the air. But any threat that the Clippers might have posed beyond the first round has been severely diminished, if not extinguished.

Griffin will be re-evaluated by a foot and ankle specialist when the team returns to L.A., the Clippers said.

Griffin and Paul are both expected to decline their player options for the 2017-18 season this summer, becoming unrestricted free agents. Clippers coach Doc Rivers publicly lobbied team owner Steve Ballmer this week to re-sign both players and keep the core together, despite the team’s inability to get past the second round of the playoffs with Griffin, Paul and DeAndre Jordan all playing together.

Griffin has long been the subject of trade rumors, even as the Clippers have shown little interest in dealing him. Should he hit free agency, as expected, teams will be lining up for the five-time All-Star’s services, and the Oklahoma City Thunder — Griffin’s hometown team — are expected to be first in line. All of which makes you wonder if his toe injury signals the final chapter of his seven-year career in L.A.

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