John Collins suffered a brutal injury on Friday against the Los Angeles Lakers. The LA Clippers forward had a mid-air collision with Jaxson Hayes, which led to him crashing onto the hardwood and hitting the left side of his head. The incident occurred late in the second half after Collins rose to attempt a lob dunk, but Hayes broke up the play.
It was a clean move from the Lakers center, but once Hayes landed, he moved back, which led to Collins’ unsafe landing, while he tried to hold onto the rim to avoid injury. Here’s the video:
Collins seemed concussed and was helped to the locker room. He was also bleeding heavily from the hard fall. The Clippers forward will likely enter concussion protocol following this incident. Collins didn’t attempt the free throws after the injury, as the referees called it a foul on Hayes. Bennedict Mathurin stepped up at the line to take the attempts.
John Collins played 16 minutes, scoring 12 points, grabbing 1 rebound, and recording 1 steal. He shot 5 of 8 and was LA’s third-leading scorer. The Clippers trailed 72-65 at halftime.
John Collins injury: Clippers forward questionable to return, doesn’t start second half
Surprisingly, John Collins was listed as questionable for the second half. The Clippers didn’t start him, but they didn’t rule him out, either. Bennedict Mathurin started for Collins in the third quarter. The Clippers continued running tests on Collins in the back to see if he was good to go the rest of the way.
Collins was later ruled out once the fourth quarter started. The Clippers didn’t provide any further updates before the game ended.
