For the second night in a row, the Clippers’ revised injury report brought bad news just a few hours before the game. This time, Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac were officially ruled out. They joined Marcus Morris, Sr. and Kawhi Leonard in street clothes. Check out our recap of the short(er)-handed Clippers’ loss to the Kings below:

Summary

Again, the Clippers played a decent first half. At halftime, they found themselves down just five and, really, the only difference between the two teams was found at the free throw line. The Kings were 14/14 in the first half; relatedly, Terance Mann and Plumlee were both in foul trouble.

Ty Lue played a pretty big rotation in the first half, likely because it was the second game of a back-to-back. Mann came off the bench, as usual, and he was joined by Bones Hyland, Robert Covington, and Amir Coffey. The unit understandably did not have much rhythm or chemistry, but Covington was able to put up seven points (leading the bench), along with a ton of great activity on defense.

The Clippers held serve in the third quarter, as both teams scored 33. The Kings, though, landed the first few punches in the fourth quarter, and the Clippers found themselves down double digits mid-way through the quarter. The Clippers bench, which started the quarter, could not hit open shots. Bones Hyland finished the game 1/9 from the field (0/6 from three).

The Clippers did not fold, though. After going down thirteen with 6:52 remaining, the Clippers went on a 22-8 run to take a 125-124 lead. They were led by George, who scored 12 points during that run, including a shot to put the Clippers up one with 33 seconds left. Westbrook, Covington, and Batum also pitched in.

After George put the Clippers up one, De’Aaron Fox missed a pull-up jumper. Covington got the rebound, handed the ball to George, who (eventually) got the ball up the court to Gordon after scrambling around in the backcourt. As Gordon was about to be trapped by two Kings’ defenders, he threw the ball across the court to Westbrook, who was wide open. Unfortunately, the pass was a little off and Westbrook failed to secure it, despite getting two hands on the ball. The Kings then received the ball with 15 seconds left yet. The play, again, was for Fox, who missed another mid-range jumper.

The game was ultimately decided by a (pretty weak) foul call on Covington, who made contact with Sabonis as they both went for a rebound. Sabonis made both free throws to give the Kings the lead, and George’s deep three fell short and to the right as time expired.

Notes

Gold Medal: Robert Covington
Covington finished the game with 15 points, four rebounds, two steals, and an asset in 31 minutes. He shot 6/11 from the field and 3/8 from three. Although he was -5 for the game, he had the best two-way game from any Clipper. He drove close-outs, hit big threes, and his defense was essential during the fourth quarter comeback.

Silver Medal: Russell Westbrook
Despite the final turnover (I think both Gordon and Russell share blame), Westbrook had a fantastic game. He played within himself and made the team better when he was on the floor. In 36 minutes, he scored 27 points, had 10 rebounds, two blocks, two rebounds, and a steal. He did have five turnovers, which hurts, but the Clippers as a whole only had seven, so the turnovers were not the difference in the game. Russell also had a +10 plus-minus, which was second best tonight.

Bronze Medal: Eric Gordon
Gordon responded to last night’s flat performance with a strong offensive output. He scored 21 points, along with three rebounds, three assists, and a steal in 30 minutes. The defense is still inconsistent, but his ability to shoot from deep (i.e., far behind the three point line) helped with the Clippers’ spacing tonight.

Honorable Mention: Paul George
Although PG had a huge fourth quarter, it took him way too long to get going. He only took four shots in the first quarter and only earned on trip to the free throw line. His foul trouble also limited his ability to influence the whole game. Still, credit to PG for willing his way to a lead with 30 seconds left. He brought the Clippers to the finish line, but they could not cross it.

That about does it for this recap of the Clippers’ loss against the Kings. As always, check out The Lob The Jam The Podcast and Clips ‘N Dip for analysis throughout the week, and follow us on Twitter to watch the game with us!

Clippers’ comeback falls short, Kings win 128-127
Kenneth Armstrong

The Clippers have a quick turnover, taking on the Sacramento Kings, after being run out of San Francisco by the Warriors. Check out our preview below:

Game Information

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch: Ballys and ClipperVision

How to Listen: AM 570 KLAC

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Russell Westbrook – Eric Gordon – Paul George – Nicolas Batum – Mason Plumlee

Kings: De’Aaron Fox* – Kevin Huerter – Harrison Barnes – Keegan Murray – Domantas Sabonis

*Fox is day-to-day but he is expected to play.

Injuries

Clippers: 
QUESTIONABLE: Ivica Zubac (calf); Marcus Morris, Sr. (elbow); Norman Powell (arm)

OUT: Kawhi Leonard (rest)

G-LEAGUE ASSIGNMENT: Brandon Boston, Jr.; Moussa Diabaté; Jason Preston

Kings: 
QUESTIONABLE: Richaun Holmes (back)

The Big Picture

The Clippers may be missing up to three starters tonight, with Kawhi Leonard out and Zubac and Morris still questionable. Norm Powell was also hurt in last night’s game, and his status for tonight is still unknown.

Flatly, the Clippers are in big trouble—a win tonight would relieve a lot of tension around the team (and the fan base) as well as stop the spiral down the standings. The Clippers just played this team, so there should not be any surprises.

The Antagonist

The Clippers just lost—badly—to the Curry-less Warriors, with most of their own roster available, including the two best players. The Kings are better than the Warriors and are more healthy than them, so it is hard to imagine a world in which this Clippers game (with no rest) will perform better than they did in San Francisco.

That about does it for this preview of the Clippers’ upcoming game against the Kings. As always, check out The Lob The Jam The Podcast and Clips ‘N Dip for analysis throughout the week, and follow us on Twitter to watch the game with us!

Clippers vs. Kings Game Preview
Kenneth Armstrong

Update: The Los Angeles Times’ Andrew Greif has strongly stated that sources are “adamant” that the Clippers are not looking to trade Luke Kennard. It is unclear at this time what the Clippers are looking to do–they’re obviously working on stuff, but the team hates to have leaks and rumors surrounding them. It’s also possible that they were talking about Luke, but nothing materialized, so they are now covering their tracks.

According to Sean Deveney, a lower-profile but established NBA reporter, the Clippers are shopping sharpshooting guard Luke Kennard. While it’s likely that the heaviest flurry of trade activity this off-season will focus around today’s NBA Draft, Deveney notes that the Clippers are expected to continue looking for a deal for Kennard during free agency if he isn’t moved today. He listed the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, and Sacramento Kings as suitors; subsequent (questionable) Twitter scuttle this morning has linked the Celtics to Kennard:

Kennard is coming off a fantastic bounce-back second year with the Clippers where he stayed healthy to make 70 appearances, averaging 11.9 points while shooting a league-best 44.9% from beyond the three-point arc. It’s no wonder, in today’s high-scoring game, that teams would covet the highest-efficiency three-point shooter in the league. And the Clippers, despite Kennard’s strong season, have reason to look to move on–they have a severe logjam at the wing positions as Paul George and Kawhi Leonard retake their full-time starting spots and trade deadline acquisition Norman Powell plays his first full season with the team. Kennard would be competing on the fringes of the rotation with Terance Mann, whose defensive-minded skillset is a better complement to the aformentioned players, and Amir Coffey, who can’t be traded as the Clippers hope to retain him in restricted free agency next month. Trading Kennard would hopefully allow him to find a larger role to flourish in during his prime (he turns 26 tomorrow) as well as net the Clippers an asset and allow them to avoid awkward playing time disputes this season.

Of the three teams mentioned, Chicago could likely put together the most appealing package for the Clippers. Assuming little-used center Tony Bradley picks up his $2M player option, the Bulls could make the math work by trading young guard Coby White and Bradley for Kennard. White is only 22 years old and appears to have some upside, but hasn’t really emerged as a good player yet. For the Clippers to bite, I’d expect they’d also want Chicago’s 18th overall pick in tonight’s draft, which they could either use to add another developmental piece or flip again (eyeing Marcus Morris + 18 for Malcolm Brogdon or Kyle Kuzma in this space). But to give up both White and their first round pick, the Bulls will likely want to hunt bigger game, and without both, it’s hard to make a deal that is both legal and attractive for LAC.

Boston and Sacramento both have an easier time making the math work on a Kennard trade–the Celtics have a massive, soon expiring trade exception from Evan Fournier last summer that they could absorb Kennard into, and the Kings have small, expendable contracts. To add value, each team would have to look at prospects or picks. Boston is dangling Grant Williams and Payton Pritchard in talks, but neither is super appealing in a straight-up swap for Kennard since the Clippers don’t have roles for them to fill anyway (I could maybe see the Clippers eating the downgrade on a Kennard-Pritchard swap to get a cheap, solid, younger backup PG for the next two years and save a bunch of luxury tax money).

Once Sacramento refuses to put Davion Mitchell in a deal, as they should, they don’t have enticing young players for LAC to consider. Boston doesn’t have a first round pick this year to offer LAC, and Sacramento only has #4, which they’d never surrender in this deal. Both teams have plenty of their own future picks, but that’s complicated as well–Boston, fresh off a Finals appearance, should be very good for a long time, making those picks low-value, while Sacramento is perpetually bad and likely wouldn’t surrender their own future firsts without strong protections.

It’s possible that a deal could be workable, but the protections would have to get wonky. Would Boston give LAC a pick 4 or 5 years out, increasing its value and giving them more time to flip it in another deal? If it’s their 2023 pick, would they be willing to reverse-protect it (so if it’s 21-30, Boston keeps it and LAC gets 2024, but if it’s top-20, LAC gets it)? What protections would Sacramento require? All protected future 1sts either eventually lose their protections as they role over year-to-year, or convert to 2nd round picks instead. How many years would the Kings let it roll over with lottery protections, tying up their ability to make future trades? And when the protections changed, would the pick grow less and less protected or would it simply convey as a 2nd rounder instead? Negotiating out these tiny details can be painstaking, but they determine how much value teams are really getting out of these future picks.

NBA Trade Rumors: Clippers “Shopping” Luke Kennard; Bulls, Kings, Celtics Interested
Lucas Hann

On short rest, the Clippers went north to Sacramento to take on the Kings and lost, 104-99. As noted in our preview, Paul George has fallen off since his MVP start to the season. Tonight, he was 5/21 from the field with five turnovers, and the Clippers were minus-2 with him on the floor. Not even Marcus Morris Sr.’s huge game could make up for the Clippers’ best player coming out flat. Check out how it unfolded in our recap below.

One note: Coach Ty Lue again started with the “big” lineup: Reggie, PG, Morris, Serge, and Zubac.

Summary

The Clippers started the game hot, with PG and Reggie hitting two threes apiece. The Kings’ response was led by Fox and Halliburton, who had six and seven early points respectively. Halfway through the first, the Clippers led 16-13. The rotations came early and often, which is to be expected on a second-game-of-a-back-to-back. Bledsoe, Kennard, Mann, and Hartenstein all saw minutes before the three minute mark of first quarter. Even Brandon Boston, Jr. got some first quarter burn. The Kings took advantage of the Clippers’ awkward lineups and finished the quarter strong, making it a 29-29 score after one frame.

The second quarter was pretty ugly for both teams, but the Clippers’ offense (or lack thereof) was why the Kings had a 50-45 lead going into halftime. Specifically, Reggie Jackson made one-of-two free throws with six minutes left in the quarter, and the Clippers only scored five more points the rest of the way. Even though they were in the “bonus” for most of the quarter, the Clippers settled for long jumpers born out of little ball movement. The Kings only scored 21 in the quarter, and really should have been up by more, but they had three costly turnovers and missed some open shots.

As Lucas put it on Twitter, the Clippers played better in third quarter, but nonetheless saw their deficit grow by one. One interesting development was the benching of Serge Ibaka, who was 1/4 from the field (0/2 from three) and had only one rebound in the first half. Instead, to start the third, Ty Lue went with Terence Mann.

The fourth quarter started off poorly, gave us a little hope, and then let us down. The Clippers ended up losing 104-99, but were down by as much as 14 halfway through the final frame. Morris, who had nine in the fourth, did his best in the fourth but the Clippers could not come up with enough stops to get over the hump. The Kings again led by Terence Davis, who had 28 points on 9/16 shooting (6/11 from three).

Notes

• Nic Batum: Although Batum was (apparently) cleared to return to basketball activities with the team, he did not make the trip to Sacramento. But it is safe to say he’ll have an opportunity to join the team in Portland, when the Clippers take on the Blazers.
• Terence Mann feature in The Undefeated: An article by Marcus Spears of ESPN’s The Undefeated highlighted Mann’s unlikely rise, which of course culminated in his huge performance in Game 6 of the Western Conference Semi-Finals. It’s great to see Terence get some national recognition!

That does it for our Clippers-Kings recap. Check out our podcast for more analysis of tonight’s game and the schedule ahead.

Clippers vs. Kings Recap: Kings, Davis Bury LA Again
Kenneth Armstrong

The Clippers reset themselves with a big win against the Lakers on Friday night. On Saturday, they have a chance to get revenge on Kings, who beat them up in Staples earlier this week.

Game Information

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, California

When: 7:00 PM PT

How to Watch: Bally Sports SoCal

Projected Starting Lineups

Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Eric Bledsoe – Paul George – Marcus Morris – Ivicac Zubac

Kings: De’Aaron Fox – Tyrese Haliburton – Terence Davis – Chimezie Metu – Richaun Holmes

Injuries

Clippers: Kawhi Leonard Out (Knee), Nic Batum Out (COVID), Jason Preston Out (Foot)

Kings: Marvin Bagley III Out (COVID), Harrison Barnes Out (Foot), Maurice Harkless Out (Knee), Robert Woodard II Out (Ankle)

The Big Picture

On Wednesday, the LA Clippers – without Paul George – struggled mightily against the Sacramento Kings (check out our recap from that game, to relive it). Tonight, however, LA will have George back and will have the wind from a win over the Lakers at their back.

Between Wednesday and Friday, it seems like the Clippers have unlocked a new wrinkle to the rotation: playing with two bigs. The move has had mixed results, of course, but the Clippers should be able to use it more effectively in Sacramento now that it has more minutes under its belt.

Check out this breakdown by Justin (@LAClippersFilm):

If the Clippers can punish the smaller Kings and keep the Kings’ shooters off the three-point line, the Clippers should be able to pick up their second straight win.

The Antagonist

One complicating factor is rest. The Kings have not played since the game in LA on Wednesday, while the Clippers will be traveling to Sacramento after playing late on Friday night. Moreover, on Friday, Paul George played nearly 40 minutes, Marcus Morris, Sr. and Reggie Jackson played over 30min, and everyone else (except for Brandon Boston, Jr.) played significant minutes in a hard-fought, wire-to-wire game.

It’s also worth noting that, although they are a flashy team, a win over the Lakers is not exactly a sign that you’re on the right track. The Clippers also needed heroic shot-making from Luke Kennard and Morris, which (without more) won’t be enough to beat the Kings. On Wednesday, the Clippers shot fine against the Kings; the real issue was the defense. On minimal rest, the Clippers could get caught flatfooted and give up another wave of threes to Terence Davis and Davion Mitchell again.

Notes

• Paul George is Human: After having a MVP start to the season, Paul George has been human over the last stretch. The turnovers have been a focus, but his scoring is down as well. In October, George averaged 27.6 ppg on 50% shooting (37.5% from three); in November, he was down to 25.4 ppg on 41% FG% and 31.6% 3P%. He has been carrying a huge load (he’s a top-2 player in usage), which had led to a -13.7 plus-minus in three games with no rest. Ty Lue would be smart to get George the ball in scoring position rather than relying on him to create for himself (and others) all game.
• Standings Watch: The Clippers are currently 6th in the West but are only a game up on the Nuggets, who are currently in the 10th spot. On the bright side, they are only one loss behind the Grizzlies and Mavericks. As Lucas pointed on on Twitter, a win tonight means LAC moves up to the fifth seed.

That does it for our Clippers-Kings preview. Check out our most recent podcast episode for a breakdown of the Clippers’ win over the Lakers.

Clippers vs. Kings Game Preview: Revenge Needed
Kenneth Armstrong

Shorthanded and struggling on both ends once again, the L.A. Clippers (11-11) lost their third-straight at the hands of the Sacramento Kings (9-14), 124-115 Wednesday night. A game in which the Clipper bench accounted for 71 of the team’s points — without Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and Nicolas Batum — Luke Kennard and Terance Mann kept the score respectable with 19 points apiece on great efficiency. Ivica Zubac was the best Clipper starter to take the floor, adding in 17 points (8-10 FG), seven boards and a steal in just under 24 minutes. For Sacramento, the three-headed offensive attack of De’Aaron Fox (24 points), Terence Davis (23), and Davion Mitchell (20) gave LAC too many troubles throughout the night. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Kings game recap.

Summary

The good news: the Clippers turned the ball over just twice in the opening frame. The bad news: the Kings, who rank 27th in 3-point shooting efficiency (32.2%), knocked down six threes to establish the tone for rest of the night. Both teams started out from the field as you’d imagine of two squads sitting below .500 in their last 10 games. Sparked by some nifty runners and mid-range jumpers, however, the Clippers were able to briefly build some steam before going 3-for-11 on decent looks in the last 5:03. A theme that ended up becoming perhaps the story of the game — the Clippers went ultra big to start out but just couldn’t take advantage of the Kings’ weak interior defense enough. After one, Sacramento held a 29-21 lead.

Anytime you trail by as much as 20 in the first half and end up cutting it to 10 at the break, you have to feel pretty fortunate. Without George, and Marcus Morris Sr. far from his sharpest form, the Clippers struggled to generate consistent offense once again as the Kings’ surging confidence had a 61.9% FG mark to show for it in the period. With nine assists to just two turnovers as a team here, the Clippers ended up getting eight more shots up than Sacramento but just could not get much of anything from their starters outside of Zubac and Reggie Jackson. Easily the most exciting Clipper takeaway from the second quarter was the play of Brandon Boston Jr., who had a team-high nine points in a 10-minute stint that helped LAC keep within range, down 62-52 at the break.

In the third, the Clippers went with the 3-big starting lineup once again and simply got played off the court. Outside of a nice Serge Ibaka to Zubac layup here and an Eric Bledsoe and-1 layup there, the Kings put up 20 points to the Clippers’ 11 in the first 5:07 stretch of the third before Tyronn Lue had to signal for time. Morris Sr. (1-9 FG) and Ibaka (2-8 FG) would not return the rest of the way. While Davis, Fox and Mitchell got just about whatever they wanted, Zubac (9 points), Eric Bledsoe (6) and Terance Mann (9) were the only three Clippers to score here. Heading into the fourth, the Clippers trailed 99-76.

With the game having been far from competitive throughout the third, the Clippers went with a Keon Johnson-Kennard-Jay Scrubb-Boston Jr.-Isaiah Hartenstein lineup. With 39 points in the period, and against several of Sacramento’s key guys, the young guns delivered one of the most fun Clipper quarters in recent days. While Kennard, Johnson and Scrubb played the entire frame, Mann and Justise Winslow came in and provided some extra unexpected energy as well. Dialing up the intensity on both ends, the reserves brought the Clippers as close as eight but just did not have enough time, nor a big enough margin of error needed to bring the miracle comeback effort all the way home.

Clippers vs. Kings Game Notes

• The Good: In the grand scheme of how strange this game was, Keon Johnson, Isaiah Hartenstein, Brandon Boston Jr. and Jay Scrubb are all names that come to mind when thinking about who played well, especially considering how small their roles are currently for this team. They played incredibly hard out there despite the lop-sided score. As for the main rotation guys, Luke Kennard and Terance Mann did just about all of their damage in the second half once the minutes and usage fell their way.
• The Quietly Good: While Ivica Zubac had another one of his vintage, often under-appreciated outings, Eric Bledsoe was also sneakily solid tonight. Aside from a pair of turnovers that immediately led to layups, and some soft defense going under on screens, Bledsoe had a handful of important individual plays in 19 minutes of action.
• The Ugly: The rust is obviously a factor here, but Marcus Morris Sr. and Serge Ibaka unquestionably did not have it tonight and were severely outplayed by the younger guys. The gamble to go big just did not work out as the Clipper starters weren’t able to do enough damage inside to warrant the level of ease that the Kings’ guards were able to score with.

• Up Next: On the front end of a back-to-back, the Clippers will visit the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center on Friday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. PT.

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Clippers vs. Kings Recap: The Bench Keeps it Interesting
Ralston Dacanay

The L.A. Clippers (11-10) look to snap their two-game skid tonight at home against the feisty Sacramento Kings (8-14). Read on for our full Clippers vs. Kings game preview.

Clippers vs. Kings Game Information

Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
When: 7:30 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: NBA TV, Bally Sports SoCal, AM 570 KLAC, KTMZ

Projected Starting Lineups:
L.A. Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Eric Bledsoe – Marcus Morris Sr. – Serge Ibaka – Ivica Zubac
Sacramento Kings: De’Aaron Fox – Tyrese Haliburton – Terence Davis – Chimezie Metu – Richaun Holmes

Injury Report:
L.A. Clippers: Nicolas Batum – OUT (Health and Safety Protocols), Amir Coffey – OUT (G League – Two-Way), Paul George – OUT (Rest), Kawhi Leonard – OUT (Right Knee; ACL – Injury Recovery), Jason Preston – OUT (Right Foot – Injury Recovery)
Sacramento Kings: Marvin Bagley III – OUT (Non-Covid Illness), Harrison Barnes – OUT (Right Foot Sprain), Maurice Harkless – OUT (Left Knee Soreness), Robert Woodard II – OUT (Left Ankle Soreness)

The Big Picture

The mediocre bloodbath in the 4-10 seeds out west carries on with seemingly no fanbases feeling hot about their team’s performance so far outside of the squads repping Phoenix and Golden State. The Clippers sans Nicolas Batum have been one of the worst culprits of that, whose turnover-heavy offense and poor transition defense have made games difficult to watch as of late. In a similar inexplicable fashion to that of near the beginning of the year when the team was comically cold collectively, the Clippers have now been plagued by a ridiculous amount of out-of-sync lapses (mostly on offense except for the all-around collapse last game). I would say that it can’t possibly get worse than the way the available Clippers are playing, but they actually shot the ball pretty well despite getting torched once again by New Orleans. As to be expected of a Tyronn Lue-led group, and one as naturally quiet as this year’s squad, there hasn’t been much talk about how frustrated the group is at the moment — no “we’re not a great team” quotes or “we gotta do something different” starting-lineup change promises. As for those primarily following along for the ride, however, it’s tough to be loudly optimistic, at least in the short term.

The Antagonist

Speaking of NBA fanbases that have had little to be excited about, the Clippers will be suiting up against their fellow divisional foes in the Sacramento Kings tonight. While the league’s two best teams at the moment are both from the Pacific Division, it’s been far and beyond a different case for the Clippers, Lakers and Kings, who have all been stuck in the mud for the most part thus far. Sacramento comes into Staples tonight less than 24 hours after getting embarrassed at the Golden 1 Center by the LeBron-less Lakers. The Clippers enter tonight 0-2 smack dab in the middle of their second 5-in-7 stretch of the season. As such, it’s safe to say that both teams will have plenty of lost time to make up for in this one.

Clippers vs. Kings Game Notes

• Starting Lineup: The last time Clippers faced the Kings was in the preseason, and the focus was on seeing how the starters would fare with each other for the first time with the Reggie Jackson-Eric Bledsoe backcourt. Unfortunately, 22 games into the season, however, it still seems like LAC has yet to find their best opening lineup (without Leonard, of course). This year’s Clippers certainly weren’t expected to have a Top-5 starting lineup out of the gates, as they have routinely in recent years, but this group just doesn’t seem to be making much progress. Maybe things will get better when the Clippers get Nicolas Batum and Marcus Morris Sr. back and up to speed, but it definitely seems like some change is needed at this point.

• Valuing the Ball: Without Kawhi Leonard, Batum and Morris Sr., LAC just hasn’t found an identity that is conducive to winning more often than not. Again, getting guys back will certainly help, but Jackson, Bledsoe and Paul George in particular need to do a better job at finding efficient looks. No matter how much the Clippers manage to hold it down defensively in the half-court, consistently losing in the turnover and/or transition scoring departments makes it nearly impossible to win ball games. An extra note here would be to stop going small down the stretch without Batum and Morris Sr. available. Maybe it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t, but going small to close games just has not worked out at all so far.
• Conquering the Kings: Focusing specifically on tonight’s matchup, especially if Harrison Barnes sits and Morris Sr. returns, the Clippers have a solid shot of winning this one. Five games into the post-Luke Walton era, Sacramento has trotted out five different starting lineups both with Barnes and Richaun Holmes in and out of uniform, and interim head coach Alvin Gentry looking to figure out his rotation on the fly. Gentry’s Kings have tallied a 2-3 mark thus far, with four-point wins over the Lakers and Trail Blazers in high-scoring thrillers. Both times, Sacramento tallied 60 points in the paint and forced 15+ turnovers. In each of their losses, however, as is the case with their 3-13 mark when shooting under 50% from the field this season, the Kings were held to less than nine made threes. Much like the Clippers, if Sacramento isn’t hitting their threes, they’ll likely lose. Meanwhile, LAC enters tonight with the NBA’s third-best defense (103.6 DEFRTG).
  
  Update No. 1: Paul George will rest tonight, per the Clippers.
  Update No. 2: Marvin Bagley III and Harrison Barnes have been ruled out by the Kings.
  Update No. 3: Moe Harkless has been ruled out by Alvin Gentry. Amir Coffey is inactive tonight (two-way), per Law Murray.

Feel free to stick around and chat down below as this article’s comment section will serve as our live game thread tonight against the Sacramento Kings. Sign up for a free account and join the conversation!

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Clippers vs. Kings Preview: Jousting for Momentum
Ralston Dacanay

Tyronn Lue went with a halftime-shift switch approach to the rotation tonight as the LA Clippers coasted to a 113-98 loss to the Sacramento Kings Wednesday night. In the first half, LAC mostly went with a tight, 8-man rotation of the starters and Terance Mann, Luke Kennard and Isaiah Hartenstein off the bench. After being square at the break at 51, however, the Kings’ main rotation guys blew this one wide open as the rest of the available Clipper young guns got loose. Overall, everyone finished the game healthy and a lot of work-in-progress stuff the team had been talking about throughout media day, training camp and pre-game was shown tonight, so it was a job well done. Read on for our full Clippers vs. Kings preseason game recap.

Clippers vs. Kings Game Notes

• More Run for Starters: Clipper Nation got their first looks at Paul George and Nicolas Batum in action tonight, and I’m happy to report they are still very good at basketball. PG started off pretty cold, but was getting to his spots and taking good looks. With each shot going up, you could see a bit George’s rhythm coming back to him. With 4-of-10 shooting from the field (1-5 3PT) in about 14 first half minutes, it was good to see George letting it fly out there. Batum picked up right where he left off in Tokyo, talking on defense and being in the right spots as a selfless, Swiss Army knife on the court.

• Allow Me to Reintroduce Myself: After a solid second career Clipper debut on Monday, Eric Bledsoe looked more comfortable in his minutes tonight. With the jumper-heavy rhythm that develops in the free-flowing offense naturally with PG13 and Reggie Jackson out there, you could definitely see the argument for Bledsoe being a nice supplementary piece to the starting unit. Showing off the burst and some signature strength, while also fitting right in with the extra pass mentality, it’s been a good look for EB12 so far.

• Center Battle Continues: Isaiah Hartenstein did himself plenty of more favors tonight, showing some consistency with what he brings to the table — finding guys for great looks and cleaning the glass. Checking in routinely with Luke Kennard and the main rotation guys throughout the first half, with Harry Giles remaining on the pine, it’s certainly looking like the spot is Hartenstein’s to lose. It’s quite unfortunate because, as many of the Clipper writers have been saying in the past weeks, Giles does a lot of the same things Hartenstein does. Looking to set up guys and taking care of the dirty work, Giles played the right way tonight and more than enough held his own against Tristan Thompson and Richaun Holmes.

• Boyz II Menn: It was another successful stint from Terance Mann and Luke Kennard, who continue to show strides in their development. Mann got started in a similar way as he did on Monday, with an up-and-under finish at the rim. And just as he displayed against the Nuggets, Mann showed more signs of the game slowing down for him. Nailing an iso turnaround middy on an Alex Len mismatch, drawing a late-clock shooting foul on Marvin Bagley III, and getting the Trae Young-stop-in-traffic call on Davion Mitchell, Mann finished off his impressive night with a terrific baseline kick out for a wide-open Kennard left wing three. Speaking of Cool Hand Luke, he finished on nine points on 4-12 shooting. While the box score looks a bit rough, they were all pretty much generated within the offense with guys prioritizing getting him the ball. Good stuff.

• Keon Johnson’s Debut: Oddly enough, it appears the “non-COVID illness” bug has spread to Justise Winslow, who was a late scratch tonight while Keon Johnson made his NBA preseason debut. On two points (0-5 FG), four rebounds and two steals in 16:37 minutes of action, Johnson was feeling it out for the most part, playing mostly off the ball on both ends. On offense, the jumper looked shaky, and Terance Davis and Buddy Heild held no remorse on the other end.

• The Brandon Boston Experience: It’s getting really hard not to get excited about Brandon Boston Jr. The 19-year-old was up at 6 a.m. for a Chris Johnson workout (as usual) and nailed a 26-footer at around 9 p.m. to get the second half going. Boston Jr. was elated after his first NBA showing on Monday, and played with a lot of that same joy again tonight. Drawing a foul on De’Aaron Fox on an iso, snagging Patrick Beverley-esque offensive boards, and maneuvering through Tyrese Haliburton and Davion Mitchell before trying to bring the house down with a Tristan Thompson poster, Boston continued on firing with a personal 7-0 run towards the final buzzer.

• Up Next: The Clippers will continue their four-game preseason stretch on the road against the Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center on Friday, Oct. 8, at 5:30 p.m. PT.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs. Kings 2021-22 Preseason Game Recap
Ralston Dacanay

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, the LA Clippers have agreed to trade Mfiondu Kabengele to the Sacramento Kings. As part of the deal, the two teams swapped heavily-protected future second round draft picks, and the Clippers provided the Kings with cash considerations.

The Clippers moving on from Fi at this trade deadline was inevitable. Despite trading a future first-round pick (and a 2nd round pick) to acquire the 27th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft to select him, the Clippers declined Kabengele’s third-year team option before the start of this season, essentially giving up on an experiment they deemed worthy of a first-round selection just 18 months later. While today’s trade is the right move for the team, it also eliminates any possibility of redemption for a major gaffe–not only wasting a first-round pick on a player who wasn’t even serviceable in a depth role, but wanting that player so badly that you traded a future first to get into the 2019 Draft to take him, and then missing so badly that it was obvious within a year that he had no NBA future.

But setting aside the terrible asset management and scouting that led to the Clippers trading for Kabengele on draft night, today’s deal makes substantial sense for the club. As I wrote a week ago, LAC enters this trade deadline with extremely limited financial wiggle room under the NBA’s hard cap–just $539k. That’s enough money to sign one rest-of-season deal in the Clippers’ vacant 15th roster spot, but they still would have been wasting a spot on Fi, and if they cut Fi outright they wouldn’t have had enough money to fill his spot with a player for their playoff run. By trading Kabengele, and moving his $2M in salary to the Sacramento Kings’ books, the Clippers have freed up more than enough space to add two players to rest-of-season contracts during buyout season in order to shore up their depth heading into the postseason.

That money could also be used to take back a little bit of extra salary in a trade over the next couple of days. The 2021 NBA Trade Deadline is Thursday at 3PM Eastern Time, and the Clippers have been loosely linked to a number of players, including Lonzo Ball and George Hill. In the case of players like Ball, or Raptors guard Norman Powell, who make more than Lou Williams’ $8M expiring deal, that extra wiggle room could help make a trade possible.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers Trade Kabengele to Kings
Lucas Hann

With Patrick Beverley and Paul George sidelined, the Clippers slipped up at home on Sunday. Check out our full slate of Clippers vs Kings player grades.

Clippers Starter Grades

Reggie Jackson: B. I think that “too much Reggie Jackson” was one of the Clippers’ bigger problems in this game… but I don’t think it was necessarily Reggie’s fault. He is who he is, and he honestly wasn’t bad tonight. But he just isn’t a dynamic enough playmaker to fill the role he needs to fill with Paul George out, and the Clippers’ offense was heavy on Reggie over-dribbling tonight. To his credit, he actually did ok converting on some tricky looks late in the shot clock, but LAC’s offense so often finding itself there was an issue. The team misses Patrick Beverley and Paul George badly. That’s not Reggie’s fault, though.

Luke Kennard: C. With both Lou Williams and Terance Mann playing well off the bench and earning extended minutes, Luke only saw the court for 19 minutes of his own tonight. Much like we’ve come to expect, he wasn’t bad but made little impact: one or two nice plays, but just not enough.

Kawhi Leonard: D. For those wondering, an F for Kawhi probably looks like 4-17 for 14 points, not 9-21 for 20. But he simply wasn’t good enough today, throughout the game and down the stretch. And those scoring numbers actually paint too pretty of a picture for how much Kawhi held back the Clippers’ offense at times. On the one hand, maybe you don’t feel so bad about losing a game because Kawhi was awful–after all, he’s not going to be awful very often. If the standard is “win when Kawhi plays well, lose when he plays poorly,” then you’ll be ok. But yeah, it’s really disappointing to drop winnable games, even while shorthanded, because Kawhi can’t put together an average night.

Nicolas Batum: B-. Nic rarely gets docked in these grades because he rarely makes egregious mistakes, but at a certain point you need guys who are actively good, not passively good. Nic did have 3 assists and 3 steals in this game, and it’s not his fault that he went 1-4 from deep (after all, he’s only human). But invisibility just isn’t quite good enough at the moment.

Serge Ibaka: C. Serge is almost never really bad, but he’s typically only okay on defense, so his value hinges on his shot-making offensively, as well as his floor-spacing at the center position opening things up for the rest of the team. When he’s 3-9, and only takes one three, he just isn’t adding value in his minutes.

Clippers Bench Player Grades

Lou Williams: A-. It might be weird to give Lou an A- on a night where he only shot 6-16 from the field, but it wasn’t as bad as that makes it seem. He had a team-high 23 points on those 16 shots, was 5-11 inside the arc, got 10 free throw attempts (and made all of them), and had a team-high 5 assists. Lou was the Clippers’ best offensive player tonight, and he probably would have helped a bit more down the stretch if he hadn’t played 18 minutes straight to close the game. With Paul George out, Lou is the team’s best pick-and-roll playmaker to complement Kawhi’s post game. He’s gotta be a bigger part of the equation offensively by design, and play in shifts that won’t lead to him tiring out late in games.

Ivica Zubac: A. Another game, another dominating performance by Zubac. He had 12 points and 14 rebounds in 27 minutes, controlling the area around the rim on both ends in his typical fashion. Similar to Lou, I’m happy to see Zu approaching 30 minutes, but I’d like to see Ty be a little more careful with his shifts. Rather than playing him 18 straight minutes to end the game, why not bring him in a couple of minutes early in the third and then let Serge play at the start of the fourth before Zu comes in to close? Exhaustion from these two guys definitely played a role in the late-game execution today.

Terance Mann: B+. Mann wasn’t amazing or anything in this game, but he was very solid. He came in, defended well, had a couple of nice drives to the rim, and made a couple of plays for others. If he can make this a normal occurence, he’ll be a really nice piece.

Marcus Morris: B+. Even when things aren’t perfect with Marcus, it’s hard to deny the way that his shot-making ability can impact games. Unfortunately, he just hasn’t done enough of the other stuff. In this game, he was neither a noticeable positive or negative on defense, but I continue to feel like many of the few offensive rebounds the Clippers do concede (they’re one of the best defensive rebounders in the league) come from Morris not crashing the glass when he’s playing power forward in lineups with three smaller guys, and Zubac (typically the center Morris plays with) gets drawn out of rebounding position to play help defense. His 16 points on 11 shots were more than worth the tradeoff considering how much LAC struggled to create efficient offense… but I’d like to see him play a well-rounded game as well.

No Grades

Amir Coffey, Daniel Oturu, and Jay Scrubb were all listed as inactive due to G-League duty. Scrubb is also still out with injury, along with Patrick Beverley and Paul George. Patrick Patterson and Mfiondu Kabengele were the two available subs who didn’t see the court.

213Hoops is an independently owned and operated L.A. Clippers blog by Clippers fans, for Clippers fans. If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing to our Patreon. Subscriptions start at $1 a month and support from readers like you goes a long way towards helping us keep 213Hoops sustainable, growing, and thriving.

Clippers vs Kings Player Grades
Lucas Hann