Lakers Injury Report: Clippers Stars' Health In Question For Battle Of LA

The Lakers have a golden opportunity here.

Your Los Angeles Lakers may be facing a Los Angeles Clippers club tonight that will be even more depleted than initially anticipated.

Brandon "Scoop B" Robinson of Bovada Sports reports that the Clippers' two best (and best-compensated) players, forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, might both be sidelined tonight for their first matchup of the 2023-24 season against their Crypto.com Arena neighbors. 

Both played yesterday in a 118-102 shellacking of the visiting Orlando Magic, whom the Lakers also beat on Monday.

George, who's generally been the more reliable of the two since coming to town in 2019, had a pretty solid night, scoring 27 points on 8-of-17 shooting (6-of-9 from deep), seven rebounds, seven assists, and two steals. While Leonard's plus-minus (+18) was somehow better than George's, his shooting was not. While playing 32:59, Leonard only scored eight points on 3-of-11 shooting, though he did grab eight boards, dish out three assists and two steals.

Perhaps the plan is that, since that tonight's game against LA would be the second bout of a back-to-back set of games, Clippers brass wants to rest the old guys.

It's pretty hilarious that, even after the NBA instituted punitive new rules designed to dissuade teams from resting stars, especially in national TV games, teams have gone about resting people left and right in just the season's first week. I assume the logic among front offices, medical staffers and ownership is that getting dinged $100K in November is a whole lot better than missing out on a championship parade in June because your best player was beset by injuries at an inconvenient time. The problem with this thinking as it relates to Leonard and George, though, is that no amount of rest seems to really help them stave off ailments at this point, as we've seen a zillion times in recent years.

The Clippers could also be without another newly acquired former All-Star in his 30s, 34-year-old James Harden, who along with versatile, 38-year-old 3-and-D forward P.J. Tucker have yet to be officially cleared to play, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

The Lakers, meanwhile, are relatively healthy, with only Rui Hachimura (doubtful with an eye issue) and Jarred Vanderbilt (out with a heel injury) probably out from among their rotation pieces.

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