The Clippers have won four games in a row as the 2026 NBA season draws to a close, with this contest against the Bucks being notably most for Brook Lopez’s homecoming to the city he helped win a championship for.
Game Information
Where: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
When: 12:30 PM PT
How to Watch: NBA TV, FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Clippers: Darius Garland – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Brook Lopez
Bucks: Ryan Rollins – Gary Trent Jr. – Pete Nance – Ousmane Dieng – Myles Turner
Injuries
Clippers: Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)
Bucks: Giannis Antetokounmpo Doubtful (Knee), Kevin Porter Jr. Out (Knee), Bobby Portis Doubtful (Wrist), Kyle Kuzma Doubtful (Achilles), Gary Harris Questionable (Groin), Thanasis Antetokounmpo Questionable (Calf)
The Big Picture
The Clippers have once again won four games in a row. Friday’s night victory over the Pacers may have been the Clippers’ ugliest of the season, but a win is a win, and at this point of the season that’s all that matters. The Clippers continue to receive stellar play from Darius Garland and Kawhi Leonard, which is the most important thing for their having any chance at all in the postseason. Friday was also notable for the Clippers being fully healthy (outside of the guys with season-ending injuries) for the first time since the trade deadline; hopefully they can continue to build reps and chemistry as the postseason approaches.
The Antagonist
The Bucks have pretty much entered full-on tanking, with around half their rotation missing yesterday’s game against the Spurs and a likely similar showing against the Clippers. The Bucks will miss the playoffs for the first time in a long time, and it’s unclear whether we will see Giannis again this season. The Bucks have very little to take out of this season, with the play of Ryan Rollins as a notable bright spot with some lesser wins in Ousmane Dieng and Jericho Sims. Whether Giannis stays after this summer or is traded, it feels like the Bucks will be rolling out a very, very different roster next season after the complete failure of this year’s squad. Even though the Bucks are playing at home and have a non-awful record, they are now in the pile of teams that the Clippers absolutely have to beat if they’re serious about keeping the 8 seed.
Notes
Brook Returns: One game after the Clippers had two major homecomings with Bennedict Mathurin and Isaiah Jackson returning to Indiana, they will have another significant game with Brook Lopez playing in Milwaukee. Brook was in Milwaukee for seven years, playing in 469 games and starting 466 of those. During that time he helped the Bucks win a title in 2021, earned two All-Defense Team nominations, and played a key role in multiple other deep playoff pushes. He is a Bucks legend, and will assuredly receive an extremely warm welcome this afternoon in his first game back in front of Bucks’ fans since he left for the Clippers last summer. The video tribute will probably be pretty awesome, and I for one am excited for it.
Standings Watch: The Suns are off today, but the Warriors and Blazers are both playing. The Blazers get another cupcake game against the Wizards – though they did lose to the Mavericks on Friday, the Wizards are a different level of bad than Dallas. It feels like a lock Portland will win that one. On the other hand, the Warriors play the Nuggets in a nationally televised game to close out the NBA slate. The Nuggets have not been playing great as of late, but they are also in full desperation mode in terms of the playoff standings, so they will be going all-out to try to win. A Clippers win combined with a Warriors loss would give the Clippers a three-game edge over Golden State with just seven games to go. Not to jinx it, but that feels like a fairly safe cushion to finish above the 10 seed.