Is Shaun Livingston Done Forever?

Via SLAM, the Boston Globe prints a peculiar note about Clippers guard Shaun Livingston -- who hasn't played in the 17 months since his gruesome knee injury.

An NBA source said the Clippers aren't expected to make Livingston a qualifying offer (the lowest starts at $5.8 million), making him an unrestricted free agent July 1. But with major knee concerns, it's uncertain the Clippers, or any team, will be rushing to sign him. According to the source, Livingston can't work out back-to-back days and needs about 90 minutes of therapy before doing noncontact basketball drills. There is speculation he might not be able to play at the NBA level again.

The last report out of L.A. -- a May 29 Art Thompson III dispatch in the Orange County Register -- had Livingston hoping to play pick-up ball in June. Has that changed? Was it a pipe dream? Livingston, remember, had hope to play in a real live NBA game during the 2007-08 season, a task which apparently didn't even come close to fruition.

The Globe mentions the possibility of eventually converting Shaun to the small forward position, as he has the (vertical) size to at least survive, if his leg comes back most of the way. The biggest thing holding Livingston back when he could play, and likely to hold him back in the future, is his lack of jumper. Luckily, that's a learnable skill, and Livingston becoming the NBA's Rick Ankiel isn't out of the question.