The Clippers opened camp on Monday with an apology, a promise to comply, and then a fresh wave of injury news that made an already strange summer feel even heavier.
Interim president of basketball operations Trent Redden addressed fans first, acknowledging the fallout from the NBA’s investigation, which left the franchise with five lost first-round picks and suspensions for owner Steve Ballmer and team president Lawrence Frank. Kawhi Leonard was also sent to Toronto in mid-September, closing another chapter in a summer the Clippers would probably rather forget.
“Their pain through this time is real,” Redden said. “The penalties we are facing are significant, and we will comply with them.”
Redden tried to frame the moment through the lens of the franchise’s past, saying the team “often has done its best work with its back against the wall.” That’s a tough sell for a club that went 42-40 and then fell to the Golden State Warriors in the play-in.
Ty Lue, for his part, didn’t duck the moment. Instead, he spent much of his time praising Ballmer and making clear where he stands.
“My loyalty to him is to the end,” Lue said. “I definitely want to be here. I definitely want to go through this challenge.”
Lue also acknowledged the last few months have not been easy, but he kept circling back to the group in the locker room as the reason he still believes in the direction of the team.
“It’s been difficult,” Lue said. “But I give our players a lot of credit. The leadership is great, the morale is great, even in these tough situations.”
The Clippers do look different now, with Darius Garland stepping into the lead role after averaging 19.9 points and 6.4 assists in 19 games with the team last season following the James Harden trade.
“I think we can surprise a lot of people,” Garland said.
Then came the injury rundown, and it was a long one. Redden said Brandon Ingram has a partially torn Achilles, discovered during heel surgery in May, which will keep him out for most of camp and the start of the season. Ingram, who averaged 21.5 points and 5.6 rebounds as an All-Star in Toronto last year, said, “I won’t be participating in training camp much, but I will be out there a little bit,” and added that “we have enough in the building to compete.”
Bradley Beal is also dealing with knee swelling that surfaced while he was coming back from hip surgery, though he said his hip is “95% there” and the team plans to ease him in. Jordan Miller tore his rotator cuff in an offseason workout, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser is still recovering from the foot injury that ended his rookie season.
That leaves a heavier burden on Rui Hachimura and Max Strus, with rookie Keaton Wagler - the No. 5 pick - already being mentioned as someone who could have a real role. Wagler said, “I’m just going to do my best to stay mentally focused. Not worry about all the outside noise.”
Training camp begins Tuesday in Hawaii, and the Clippers will remain there through an Oct. 4 preseason game against the Warriors. The games start to count on Oct. 21, when the Sacramento Kings visit Intuit Dome, giving Lue about three weeks to sort through who’s healthy enough to start.
In Other News...
Tyronn Lue May Have Bigger Plans For Rui Hachimura Than Expected
Rui Hachimura used his introductory media day press conference to start making the case for his next chapter after signing a two-year deal with the Clippers. He talked about why Los Angeles felt like the right landing spot, showed appreciation for his time with the Lakers, and sounded energized by the chance to work with a new team and coaching staff. For a roster that has been looking to add reliable spacing and versatile scoring, Hachimura arrives as a familiar name in a new setting, with Tyronn Lue already pointing to the forwards three-point shooting as part of the appeal.
Lues early comments suggest the Clippers may not view Hachimura as just a floor-spacer, either. The coach has talked about broadening his offensive responsibilities, which gives Hachimura a chance to do more than settle into a complementary role. For a player still trying to define how much he can carry on his own, that kind of trust can matter, and it leaves open the question of just how far Lue intends to push him once the season gets moving. [Read more 🡒]
Clippers Added Two Camp Names Fans Will Want To Track
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For a team always balancing depth, development and the long view, those are the kind of invites that can make the early weeks of camp interesting. The Clippers are also part of a wider flurry of late-summer roster activity around the league, with Sacramento and Portland finalizing camp deals of their own, but Wesley and Loyer are the ones Los Angeles fans will have a reason to keep an eye on as camp opens. [Read more 🡒]
Paul George Just Reopened An Uncomfortable Clippers Reality
Paul Georges first Celtics media day offered a familiar kind of reminder for the Clippers: the leagues star movement always comes with a second story attached. George talked about how good it has felt to land in Boston, and the way he framed the change brought back the contrast with his stops in Los Angeles and Philadelphia, where expectations were high and the fit never quite settled the same way. For a Clippers organization that invested heavily in him, the optics of a player sounding relieved and revived elsewhere is the sort of thing that lingers.
Bostons reputation for structure and stability only sharpens the backdrop, especially when George is now part of a roster shaped by the kind of blockbuster deal that can alter a franchises direction. The Clippers do not get to revisit that decision every day, but comments like these make the old questions feel fresh again. Whether the trade winds up looking visionary or costly, it has already reopened an uncomfortable conversation about what the Clippers thought they were getting and what the league has seen since. [Read more 🡒]