Clippers' Season In Further Jeopardy As Sam Cassell Transported Back To Home Planet

The Los Angeles Clippers' playoff hopes for the upcoming season received another serious setback Tuesday when veteran point guard Sam Cassell was unexpectedly transported back to his home planet.

On the heels of the potentially season-ending ruptured Achilles tendon suffered by All-Star power forward Elton Brand, the loss of the team's savvy floor general might be too much to overcome this season.

A stoic Vice President of Basketball Operations Elgin Baylor faced the media shortly after the story was leaked to a local Los Angeles affiliate.

"This is a sad day in Clipper history, and as we all know, this is an organization that has seen more than its share of sad days," read Baylor from a prepared statement. "When Elton suffered his injury, we were devastated but resolute in our determination to push forward. Now that Sam has been taken from us, I'm just not so sure-"

At this point Baylor, fighting back tears, took a few moments to collect himself before continuing his statment.

"We always knew that the day would come when Sam's planet would need a loquacious, undersized point guard once again, but that does not detract from the emptiness we are all feeling at this moment."

The loss of Cassell for at least the 2007-2008 season is particularly difficult as his promising, but injury-prone understudy Shaun Livingston might also miss the entire season after reconstructive knee surgery in March. It is not yet clear if guard Cuttino Mobley will be asked to shift from his natural position of shooting guard or if the Clippers will look to free agency to held fill the void created by Cassell's untimely departure.