The Clippers have lost three games in a row, and have a chance to get right against the lottery-bound Pelicans after multiple days off.
Game Information
Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California
When: 6:00 PM PT
How to Watch: KTLA, FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570
Projected Starting Lineups
Pelicans: Dejounte Murray – Herb Jones – Saddiq Bey – Trey Murphy – Zion Williamson
Clippers: Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Brook Lopez
Injuries
Pelicans: Trey Murphy Questionable (Shoulder)
Clippers: Collins Questionable (Head/Neck), Darius Garland Out (Toe), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)
The Big Picture
The Clippers have lost three games in a row, less due to poor play or effort and instead just due to missing players and a lack of firepower. The good news is that reinforcements are on the way: Kawhi is off the injury report, John Collins is questionable, and Darius Garland seems primed for a return on Monday. The Clippers are also still attached in the West playoff picture, as none of the teams ahead of them (Suns, Warriors, or Blazers) is winning games at a high rate either. If the Clippers can just get healthy and stay relatively healthy the last 20 games of the season, they seem primed to make a run up the standings.
The Antagonist
The Pelicans have had a very odd season. Their trade in the summer of 2025 that surrendered their 2026 1st round pick for the right to draft Derik Queen has colored their entire season, as instead of being a fun young team that is adding more talent, the Pelicans instead are a bad team that was trying to be good and failed miserably without even getting a prize at the end in a top lottery pick. What’s even stranger is a lot of the Pelicans’ players have had good or promising seasons, but a combination of poor health and youth has made winning difficult. The Pels have won four games in a row, and do have a good amount of talent on their team now that they’re healthier, but this is still a game the Clippers have to win if they view themselves as a serious team.
Notes
John Collins Is a Big Deal: One of the reasons that the Clippers struggled so mightily to start the season is that their biggest offseason acquisition, John Collins, significantly underperformed expectations. Conversely, Collins’ midseason turnaround was probably the second-biggest factor in the Clippers’ shocking jump from awful to awesome starting in mid-December. The Clippers have greatly missed him the past few games, and he’d be a huge absence in this game, as he’s by far the Clippers’ best option to guard Zion Williamson. Zion would have a strength advantage on Collins, but not nearly as much as he’d have on Nic Batum, Kobe Sanders, or any other non-Kawhi Clippers’ perimeter player, and the Clippers probably don’t want to have to “waste” Kawhi’s energy in guarding Zion. Collins not being available could be the swing factor in this one, so hopefully he’s back for this contest.
Bogi Back, Sort Of: The Clippers loss to the Wolves on Thursday was not very notable, as the undermanned Clippers played hard but did not have the talent to secure the win. The most interesting element of the game was that Bogdan Bogdanovic was in the rotation, logging 17 minutes. This was only the second time that Bogi has played since December 26, and his only other appearance was around the trade deadline when the Clippers were extremely short-handed. This could be nothing – it probably is – but with Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller flatlining a bit, the door remains open for Bogi to re-enter the rotation at some point. He wasn’t particularly good on Thursday, but he wasn’t awful either, and his veteran status might earn him one last chance. If Collins is still out tonight, this could be another opportunity for Bogi to get some run. Or maybe Kawhi’s return is enough to push him back to the pine.
