The Clippers have alternated awful performances (Games 1 and 3) with a very good one (Game 2), so hopefully tonight they can replicate their Game 2 performance and bounce back from their blowout loss to the Lakers last night.

The Clippers play at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN against the Wizards, though unfortunately Keaton Wagler is out for rest, while Cam Christie is sitting with ankle soreness. For the Wizards, the number one pick in the draft, AJ Dybantsa, has already been shut down for the rest of Summer League. It’s probably going to be a pretty dismal affair.

Clippers 2026 Summer League, Game 4 Thread
Robert Flom

The Clippers play their third Summer League game of 2026 tonight, against the hated Lakers.

After a miserable first game in Vegas, the Clippers were mostly quite good in the 2nd game, blowing out the Jazz behind a knockout third quarter punch. Almost everyone who received a lot of minutes played well for the Clippers outside of Cam Christie, with the three standouts being their rookies: Keaton Wagler, Baba Miller, and Nick Martinelli.

Hopefully the Clippers play as well tonight as they did in Game 2, and that their main roster plays continue to show what they can do.

Clippers 2026 Summer League, Game 3 Thread
Robert Flom

The Clippers play their second Summer League game tonight at 7:00 PM PT on Amazon Prime against the Utah Jazz and number 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson.

The Clippers lost their first game of Summer League in a contest that was so hideous it was not worth writing about. Quite honestly, I take Summer League less and less seriously every year, so I probably won’t have notes or a recap for any of these games, though I will give my overall thoughts at the end of Summer League.

Comment on the game below!

Clippers 2026 Summer League, Game 2 Thread
Robert Flom

The Clippers kick off their first Summer League game of 2026 tonight against the Sacramento Kings at 8 PM ET on ESPN.

This should be a fun one, as we can watch the Clippers’ prized rookie, Keaton Wagler, square off against the Kings’ dynamic rookie, Darius Acuff, who the Clippers were thinking about taking with the 5th pick. There are other interesting players in this one, of course, but those are the two headliners.

I must also say that I did, of course, see the news today about the Clippers’ trade of Kawhi Leonard being paused due to the ongoing Aspiration investigation. I don’t have much to say, outside of the fact that the NBA has royally bungled this whole situation from start to finish. I would still expect the trade to go through in a relatively similar form in the coming weeks – hopefully the investigation wraps soon-ish so all parties involved can move on.

Leave your comments below!

Clippers 2026 Summer League, Game 1 Thread
Robert Flom

This is just a thread to comment about the happenings on the first day of the NBA Draft, which is round one. The Clippers have the 5th pick in the draft, and there’s still no certainty as to who will be the pick this evening.

Outside of the 5th pick, there’s a chance the Clippers do something else on draft day, with the biggest move being a Kawhi Leonard trade. There is also the possibility of trading other veterans for picks, with Derrick Jones Jr. the next most likely suspect. I’d say chances of those sorts of trades are low-ish, though certainly possible.

Leave your comments below!

2026 NBA Draft: First Round Thread
Robert Flom

The Clippers face the Warriors at home in a win-or-go home game that will determine whether they get a chance at a playoff spot or start their offseason a little earlier than normal.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch: Amazon Prime Video, AM 1150

Projected Starting Lineups

Warriors: Steph Curry – Brandin Podziemski – Gui Santos – Draymond Green – Kristaps Porzingis

Clippers: Darius Garland – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Brook Lopez

Injuries

Warriors: Draymond Green Probable (Back), Quinten Post Questionable (Foot), Jimmy Butler Out (Knee), Moses Moody Out (Knee)

Clippers: Isaiah Jackson Questionable (Ankle), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)

The Big Picture

The Clippers got to their 15^th winning season in a row in the 82^nd game of the season, but were not able to get out of the 9-10 play-in bracket. This will be the Clippers’ second time in the play-in, and the first time in the 9^th spot (they were in the 7^th spot in 2022, infamously losing both play-in games to fall out of the playoffs entirely). The Clippers are coming in mostly healthy, with Isaiah Jackson as the lone player on the injury report not ruled out with a season-ending injury. They have homecourt advantage, and will be against a team that is decidedly less talented than they are. But we have seen the Clippers lose to bad teams all year (outside of that one stretch in January), and the Warriors will be every bit as desperate as the Clippers. They need to come ready to fight.

The Antagonist

The Warriors have been in the play-in a few times before, and are certainly no stranger to elimination games. However, this is not the Warriors of yore. Steph has been incredible this season, but only returned recently from a long absence and is probably not 100% yet. Draymond Green has shown his age this season, finally slipping from being one of the NBA’s top defenders as he enters his mid-30s. Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala are long gone. Still, the Warriors have a stable of competent veterans and youngsters, and they can beat almost any team on the nights Curry gets hot. The Clippers just have to make sure that doesn’t happen. Easier said than done.

Notes

Who Guards Steph: The Clippers have mostly utilized Kris Dunn to guard Steph Curry since Dunn has been a Clipper, and Dunn has done as well as could be expected in that difficult assignment. However, the Clippers put Derrick Jones Jr. on Steph in the game on Sunday. Was it just to see a different look? Do they like Dunn as a roamer more since the Warriors don’t have another great scoring option? Was it just to throw the Warriors off Dunn being the primary defender on Steph again? It could be one or none of those reasons, but I thought DJ getting the Steph assignment was interesting, and I’m curious to see who takes on Steph in this one.

Bench Scoring: The Clippers won the game against the Warriors on Sunday largely due to their bench, which severely overpowered the Warriors’ reserves. Bennedict Mathurin, Jordan Miller, and even Bogdan Bogdanovic (probably won’t play tonight but still) all went off, and the Warriors just did not have many answers on defense. The Warriors play smart, connected basketball, but Mathurin and Miller should be able to get into the paint consistently against Golden State, and as long as they play calm and make the right plays, easy looks should result on offense.

Feed Kawhi: It’s a logical strategy to feed your best player in a do-or-die game, but the Clippers going to Kawhi early and often is even more obvious in this one. Without Jimmy Butler, the Warriors have no wing with the size, quickness, and strength to guard Kawhi one-on-one, or probably even bother him much. If Kawhi starts cooking, the Warriors will have to throw multiple defenders at him, and that should give the Clippers a bunch of open threes. As long as they make a good percentage of those, their offense will probably be quite potent.

Clippers vs Warriors: Play In Preview
Robert Flom

The Clippers will close their rollercoaster 2026 season against the rival Golden State Warriors in a contest that is probably meaningless but that they need to try to win just in case the Blazers drop their game at the same time.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

When: 5:30 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, KTLA, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Warriors: Steph Curry – Brandin Podziemski – Gui Santos – Draymond Green – Kristaps Porzingis

Clippers: Darius Garland – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Brook Lopez

Injuries

Warriors: Steph Curry Probable (Ankle), Seth Curry Questionable (Adductor), Quinten Post Doubtful (Foot), Jimmy Butler Out (Knee), Moses Moody Out (Knee)

Clippers: Isaiah Jackson Out (Ankle), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)

The Big Picture

The Clippers, perhaps fittingly, were thoroughly outplayed by the Blazers on Friday night in the most important game of the season for either team. The Blazers were quicker, bigger, more energetic, and more forceful despite being a younger and more inexperienced team than the veteran-laden Clippers. The Clippers’ center issues were also apparent; they got a monster game from Brook Lopez, but were blitzed in the bench minutes with John Collins and Nic Batum at center. The Clippers didn’t really have much of a chance of any kind of postseason run even with Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Isaiah Jackson healthy, but without them, the only center on the roster being the limited Lopez makes it tough for this team to get anything going inside. Ultimately, this season can be broken down into three segments: the horrendous 6-21 start, the incredible 20-7 turnaround midseason, and the mediocre 15-12 close. And now, at the end, they are who they are – a middling .500 team.

The Antagonist

The Warriors have had a season every bit as disastrous as the Clippers. The Warriors were also expected to be a highly competitive playoff team after making the second round last year and reloading much of their same roster, but the season-ending injury to Jimmy Butler and an extended second-half absence from Steph Curry doomed them to a below-.500 season and a 10^th seed. Like the Clippers, the Warriors have some nice young players (Podziemski, Santos, Moses Moody, Quinten Post, Will Richard) but no obvious blue-chip prospects, and are heavily invested in an aging and injury-prone core. The big difference is the Warriors have all of their own picks, and it certainly seems like they will go after big fish this offseason. But, for right now, they are just a meh 10^th seed that has no hopes of a playoff run even if they do make it through the play-in tournament.

Notes

Winning Record Streak on the Line: The Clippers have had a winning record for 14 seasons in a row, by far the longest ongoing streak in the NBA. Their last season below .500 was all the way back in 2010-2011, Blake Griffin’s rookie season, when they went 32-50. The Clippers have had two seasons since where they’ve barely sneaked out winning records at 42-40 (in 2017-18 and 2021-22), and it would be a point of pride for them to get to that mark this year with a win. Even if nothing else is on the line, that franchise record is a really cool mark that I want the team to keep going.

Go Kings Go: The only way this game matters in the actual standings is if the Kings beat the Blazers, as in that case the Clippers would tie the Blazers at 42-40 and move to 8^th through tiebreakers. The Blazers will be playing at home and the Kings have nothing to play for, but they’ve been surprisingly frisky in recent weeks, so the chances of them winning aren’t quite zero. The Clippers have to hope the Kings are feisty again tomorrow and don’t lean as far into the tank as some other teams have done recently (the Grizzlies played 5.5 players in their loss on Friday).

Clippers vs Warriors Preview: Last Game of the Season
Robert Flom

Ten days after the Clippers lost the most important game of their season to that point, they play the same opponent again, the Portland Trailblazers, in what is by far their most meaningful regular season game of the year.

Game Information

Where: Moda Center, Portland, Oregon

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Darius Garland – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Brook Lopez

Blazers: Scoot Henderson – Jrue Holiday – Toumani Camara – Deni Avdija – Donovan Clingan

Injuries

Clippers: Isaiah Jackson Out (Ankle), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)

Blazers: Shaedon Sharpe Questionable (Fibula), Jerami Grant Doubtful (Calf), Vit Krejci Doubtful (Calf), Damian Lillard Out (Achilles)

The Big Picture

The Clippers followed up a huge win against the Mavs on Tuesday night with a dud against the (admittedly awesome) Thunder on Wednesday. The Clippers have been mediocre for almost an entire month now, as they’ve gone 7-7 since March 13 (they went 7-1 during the first two weeks of March) with all but one of their wins coming against tanking teams. This is the team I expected to see after the Harden and Zu trades: talented, but with some overlapping pieces and a serious weak spot at the center position. I’d like to see them make the playoffs, as I think it would be great experience for their young guys and would just be a positive outcome for the season, but any hopes of them pulling an upset have faded in the past four weeks.

The Antagonist

The Blazers have gone 9-5 in that same stretch since March 13, but just like the Clippers, nearly all of their wins have come against tanking teams: the Jazz, Nets, Pacers, Nets again, Bucks, Wizards, and Pelicans. Thus, it’s hard to say they’re playing that much better of late than the Clippers, though they did of course stomp the Clips last week in Inglewood. Jrue Holiday and Deni Avdija led the charge for the Blazers in that one, as they have basically all year, and the Clippers will need to do better jobs defending those guys if they’re going to pull off this win. In the middle Donovan Clingan has a big advantage against Brook Lopez, but unfortunately there’s not much the Clips can do about that right now.

Notes

Standings Watch Over: The Clippers are locked into the 8 or 9 seeds, as the Warriors are now locked into the 10 seed and the Suns are stuck at 7. If the Clippers win this game tonight, they will be the 8 seed. If they lose, they will have to win their last game of the season (against a Warriors team that will probably be resting guys) and the Blazers will have to lose their last game (against a Kings team with nothing to play for) to be 8. Thus, tonight’s game will more or less decide the 8 seed, which is a huge deal, as it means the Clippers could play the Spurs if they win the 7-8 matchup, and then have a second game to make the playoffs even if they lose. The 9 seed would be bad, as it’s one loss away from the offseason and even a win doesn’t guarantee the playoffs.

Rotation Check: This game is essentially a play-in game in its own right, and I’m very curious to see how Ty Lue handles rotations. Does he play nine guys in the rotation, like he did against the Mavs on Tuesday? Does Kobe Sanders get cut or significantly reduced in the rotation to give more minutes to the Clippers’ veterans? Do we see Kawhi crack the 40 minute mark? How much does Brook Lopez play? These are all questions I’m thinking about for tonight, which is a must win.

Clippers vs Blazers Preview: Biggest Game of the Season, Again
Robert Flom

The Clippers got back in the win column on Sunday, but face a somewhat tougher test against the tanking-but-still-trying Dallas Mavericks.

Game Information

Where: Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

When: 7:30 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Mavericks: Max Christie – Cooper Flagg – Naji Marshall – PJ Washington  – Dwight Powell

Clippers: Darius Garland – Kris Dunn – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Brook Lopez

Injuries

Mavericks: Dereck Lively Out (Foot), Kyrie Irving Out (Knee), Daniel Gafford Doubtful (Shoulder), Marvin Bagley Questionable (Shoulder), Caleb Martin Doubtful (Heel), Brandon Williams Questionable (Illness)

Clippers: Isaiah Jackson Out (Ankle), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)

The Big Picture

The Clippers’ win over the Kings on Sunday was rather anticlimactic in a good way, as the Clips pulled ahead in the 2^nd quarter and never looked back in a mostly wire-to-wire win. It’s hard to take much away from a win over a tanking and horrendous Kings team, but the Clippers had the right energy and focus to put the game away early, which was nice, and nobody else got injured during the contest, which is even better. We are truly in the final stretches of the regular season now; every win counts, and every injury for a postseason team can range from irritating to catastrophic.

The Antagonist

The Mavericks came into this season with postseason aspirations as well, but have been on the tank train for months now. They are sitting fewer of their key players than other tanking teams: Cooper Flagg is playing due to the tight Rookie of the Year race, but so are other legit veteran guys like PJ Washington and Naji Marshall. If the Mavs don’t play Gafford or Bagley they will get very small, which is of benefit to the Clippers, but they have good wing talent and play hard. This is a game the Clippers should win, of course, but it’s much less of a gimme than the Kings game was.

Notes

Standings Watch: If the Clippers win tonight it will be impossible for them to fall to 10, which is a good thing because the Warriors play at home against the Kings tonight in what should be an easy win for Golden State. Meanwhile, the Suns host the Rockets on national TV in what is a big game for both sides, as the Rockets are fighting to hang onto the 5 seed or maybe even more into 4 while the Suns are trying to clinch 7 and keep their slim hope for 6 alive. If the Suns lose and the Clippers win, the Clips will move to just two games back of Phoenix for 7, giving them at least a chance to catch the Suns. A combination of Suns win and Clippers loss would lock the Clippers out of the 7 seed.

Clippers vs Mavericks Preview: Season Winding Down
Robert Flom

The Clippers have lost two critical games in a row, and have a golden chance to turn things around in a get-right game against the woeful Kings.

Game Information

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California

When: 6:00 PM PT

How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal, KTLA, AM 570

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Darius Garland – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – John Collins – Brook Lopez

Kings: Devin Carter – Nique Clifford – DeMar DeRozan – Precious Achiuwa – Maxime Raynaud

Injuries

Clippers: Isaiah Jackson Out (Ankle), Yanic Konan Niederhauser Out (Foot), Bradley Beal Out (Hip)

Spurs: Domantas Sabonis Out (Knee), Zach LaVine Out (Hand), DeAndre Hunter Out (Eye), Russell Westbrook Out (Toe), Drew Eubanks Out (Thumb), Keegan Murray Out (Ankle), Isaiah Stevens Out (Ankle)

The Big Picture

The Clippers have had multiple days off for the first time in a long time, and those rest days were desperately needed after back-to-back awful losses to the Blazers and Wemby-less Spurs. The Clippers looked rather discombobulated on most fronts in those two defeats, with early-season habits like awful turnovers and slow transition defense coming to bite them. The loss of Isaiah Jackson and Yanic Konan Nierderhauser has loomed large, as Brook Lopez has been forced to play a lot of minutes and the Clippers have had to go small when he doesn’t play – unlike Clippers’ rosters of yore, this team is not built to play small-ball. Hopefully Jackson can return before the postseason, because if not, this team’s already limited chances of a run diminish by a real margin. A big win tonight against a moribund Kings team could at least help the Clippers get some momentum the last few games of the NBA season heading into the postseason.

The Antagonist

The Kings can’t get out of their own way. Having possessed the worst or second-worst record in the NBA for nearly the entire season, a late “surge” (they’re 4-6 in their last 10 games and have won their last two) have propelled them “up” to a tie for the fourth-worst record in the league. The flattened lottery odds mean even the 4^th or 5^th worst team has a pretty good chance of winning the lottery, but the chance of the Kings dropping all the way down to 7 or 8 is about as grim as it gets for a fanbase that has seen little in the way of good fortune in two decades. At least this season hasn’t been a total lost cause: rookie Maxime Raynaud looks like a pretty legit NBA player, and fellow rookies Nique Clifford and Dylan Cardwell might stick around too. Outside of that though, it’s been a brutal season for the Kings, who were not able to get value for any of their veteran players.

Notes

Standings Watch: The Suns and Warriors are at the periphery of tracking for the Clippers’ seeding purposes – it’s now very, very unlikely that they climb to 7 or fall to 10. That said, there’s still a chance. The Suns play in Chicago early this afternoon in a game that they will likely win. The Bulls are still playing a number of their actual players, but have been very bad since they All-Star Break when they blew up their team, and even on the road the Suns should be able to clean them up. Conversely, the Warriors are playing at home against the Rockets, who are a better team and have won five in a row. The Warriors are getting Steph Curry back for what should be a raucous crowd, but Steph will likely be rusty after having missed a couple months with injury, and the Rockets should be overwhelming favorites. A Clippers’ win plus Warriors’ loss would all but clinch the Clippers’ being a top-nine seed in the West.

Clippers vs Kings Preview: Please Win This One
Robert Flom