Clippers’ Derrick Jones Jr. out again with right knee MCL sprain

Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. suffered a Grade 2 MCL sprain of his right knee in Saturday’s loss to the Boston Celtics and will be re-evaluated in six weeks. Jones had returned just last week after missing 17 games because of a similar injury to the same knee.

Jones collided with Boston’s Payton Pritchard as the two battled for a loose ball at midcourt and Jones limped off the court. He was seen gingerly walking to his locker, unable to put much weight on the leg.

“(Pritchard) reached for the ball, poked it away a little bit, and once I retrieved the ball, he was going for the ball again and kind of just hit my leg,” Jones said after the game.

“I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what’s wrong. Like I said, get an MRI tomorrow, and once we figure that out, we will go from there.”

The 6-6 forward scored 19 points on 8-of-9 field goals, including 3-of-4 3-pointers, and had four rebounds, two assists and one blocked shot in 25 minutes before leaving.

Jones started the first 13 games of the season and was averaging a career-high 10.9 points before the initial injury that occurred on Nov. 16 against the Celtics as well.