Kittles Says His Return Is Unlikely

Kerry Kittles sat for a team photo Wednesday, putting on his uniform in an official capacity for the first time in about two months.

Kittles mostly has been absent from the picture for the Clippers this season, sidelined for all but 11 relief appearances because of a series of injuries, the team’s hopes of reaching the playoffs dimmed without his leadership and late-game experience and his own future in the game clouded too.

Before taking his usual seat behind the bench for Wednesday night’s 110-102 victory over the slumping Orlando Magic, in which Corey Maggette led the Clippers with 31 points, eight assists and six rebounds in front of 18,054 at Staples Center, the veteran guard indicated for the first time that he probably would not play again this season.

Kittles, 30, also said “it’s possible” that his latest and most serious injury, a degenerative disk in his lower back that has sidelined him since the middle of January, could be career-threatening.

In the last year of a contract that will pay him nearly $9.6 million this season, he presumably is set financially. His passion for basketball has not diminished, however, and he would like to play for several more seasons.

But at what risk?

“I haven’t lost my love for the game,” he said, “but I’m not going to jeopardize my future. I can’t hold my [11-month-old] daughter now. If I hold my daughter, it’s not a good thing for me; it puts pressure on my spine. That’s scary.

“I’m only 30 years old, so I’ve got to watch out.”

He has endured three epidurals, only one of which helped alleviate the pain in his back, indicating that the problem is structural, he said.

He is about a month into a rehabilitation program designed to strengthen his back over six to eight weeks and “if I could make a turnaround in the next week or so, I’d probably have a chance” to play again this season.

“If not, I probably won’t, realistically,” Kittles added.

Barring an unexpected recovery, then, he almost certainly has played his last game for the Clippers, who are not expected to re-sign him after he becomes an unrestricted free agent July 1.

Last summer, of course, they were bullish on Kittles, picking him up in a trade with the New Jersey Nets and renouncing their rights to restricted free agent Quentin Richardson, who had signed an offer sheet with the Phoenix Suns.

Kittles, though, showed up at training camp with a sore right knee, the result of arthroscopic surgery about a month before the trade in July. He sat out the season’s first 10 games, reinjured the knee in practice after playing in only one game and was later sidelined because of groin and back injuries.

“It’s been a tough year,” said Kittles, who had never before had a back problem. “It’s been extremely hard. I love to play basketball. Not being out there, and everything that’s happened, I don’t know what to say about it.”

*

The Clippers (29-35) never trailed after the first quarter and surpassed their victory total from last season, when they were 28-54 and last in the Western Conference.... Dwight Howard, the top choice in the draft last June, made 14 of 17 shots and led the Magic with a season-high 29 points and 12 rebounds. Magic scoring leader Steve Francis missed 13 of 17 shots and scored 15 points, six below his average.... Chris Kaman had 16 points and 11 rebounds, Elton Brand 13 points and 12 rebounds and Bobby Simmons 16 points for the Clippers.... Maggette has scored 30 points or more in four of the Clippers’ last seven games.

The Magic, which has lost six in a row, is 3-9 since the All-Star break. The Clippers are 6-5 since the All-Star break, 0-3 outside Staples Center.... Marko Jaric sat out because of a right hip pointer, the result of being inadvertently kneed by Antonio Davis of the Chicago Bulls on Sunday.