HOUSTON -- Paul George will make his LA Clippers debut on Thursday against the Pelicans in New Orleans, coach Doc Rivers said Thursday.
George, who is making his way back from offseason surgeries on both shoulders, will not be taking the floor alongside fellow All-Star Kawhi Leonard, who has been officially ruled out against the Pelicans due to left knee injury management.
Patrick Beverley is also out of Thursday's game with a calf injury.
Leonard played in Wednesday's 102-93 loss to the Houston Rockets, scoring 26 points to go with 12 rebounds and 7 assists.
The Pelicans will be without Brandon Ingram and Jahlil Okafor for Thursday's game. Both had been listed as questionable. New Orleans already had been playing without Zion Williamson, Lonzo Ball, Darius Miller and Josh Hart.
In the Clippers' two previous sets of back-to-back games, Leonard sat out the first game due to load management for a patellar tendon injury in his left knee. This is the first back-to-back set in which Leonard has played in the first game.
Rivers has been running three to four plays designed strictly for George every day in practice.
"We'll figure it out," Rivers said. "It will take time, especially late-game stuff, ATO (after timeout) stuff, but you'll take it. You'll just take the talent. You know no matter what, you can run a play for Paul George. No matter what, you can run something for Kawhi. What I don't know is the rotations, the lineups that we can throw out on the floor.
"They are similar in the way they play. Paul comes off of more pindowns and screens, which actually adds to your offense because guys that do that create an offense in itself. JJ Redick, we used him running around and [also] Ray Allen [in Boston]. But it also created another offense for everyone else because of that, and Paul George can do that as well."
George, who underwent surgery in May to repair a partially torn tendon in his right shoulder and another procedure to repair a partial tear of his left labrum a month later, went through his first full live practice Saturday.
"My shoulders haven't been this good in a long time," George told ESPN in early October during Clippers training camp. "I shot the ball pretty well last season, so I'm excited for what's to come."