HOUSTON -- Rockets guard Chris Paul has been ruled out of Friday's reunion game against the LA Clippers because of a strained left adductor.
"I think he's day-to-day, but we're going to be real cautious with it, I'm sure," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said.
Paul said he isn't certain how many games he will miss. The injury caused him to leave early in the fourth quarter of Wednesday's loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, which snapped Houston's 14-game winning streak.
It was the first loss in a Rockets uniform for Paul, who missed a month because of a left knee contusion after playing in the Rockets' season-opening victory over the Golden State Warriors.
Paul, a nine-time All-Star who pushed to be traded from the Clippers to Houston during the summer, has averaged 17.1 points, 9.0 assists and 2.1 steals in 16 games for the 25-5 Rockets.
"I wish I could play tomorrow," Paul said Thursday evening before his foundation's holiday charity event at a Houston-area Target store, where he took 100 underprivileged children on a shopping spree. "God knows I wish I could play tomorrow, but it's a marathon."
Paul acknowledged that he had been looking forward to facing his former team, but that wasn't the primary source of his frustration.
"It's tough, and it's not just about playing against the Clippers," Paul said. "It's the way that we've been building and getting back out there. And I love to hoop more than anything. That's my happy place. It's tough, it's tough."
D'Antoni said Paul felt a twinge in his adductor after a movement late in the third quarter. Paul tested it at the beginning of the fourth quarter and immediately made the decision to come out of the game.
"He shut it down immediately, which is good," D'Antoni said. "He's smart enough. He could have played on it, but then he would have been out a lot longer. So he should be OK. I don't know what that means, exactly how many days, but right now it's day-to-day and we'll see what happens."
Valuable reserve forward Luc Mbah a Moute, who also left the Clippers to join the Rockets during the summer, remains out due to a dislocated right shoulder.
Houston starting center Clint Capela has missed two of the past three games because of a left heel contusion and is listed as doubtful against the Clippers. If Capela can't play, the Rockets will have only six regular rotation players available.
"Where we are and how we've been, we're going to err on the side of caution," D'Antoni said. "We're not going to play guys if they aren't 100 percent. ... We cannot go with anybody not being as healthy as they can but at the same time being ready to go in the springtime. We've got to win games obviously, but not at the expense of later on."