INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Twenty-six days after an NBA investigation laid bare the Los Angeles Clippers’ scheme to circumvent the salary cap by funneling extra money to Kawhi Leonard, team officials at last faced questions from the media.
At 10:32 a.m. on Monday morning, coach Ty Lue and interim president of basketball operations Trent Redden entered an Intuit Dome press conference room overflowing with reporters and sat down in a pair of folding chairs behind the podium.
It was Redden who drew the short straw of speaking directly to long-suffering Clippers fans with owner Steve Ballmer suspended from the NBA for a year and top lieutenant Lawrence Frank also serving a suspension. Redden began with a prepared statement apologizing to supporters for not addressing them sooner and pledging to regain their trust.
“Our fans deserved to hear from us before this, and for that we’re sorry,” Redden said. “We’ve been listening, though, not just being quiet, but listening to the thoughts, the concerns, and feelings and emotions of our fan base. They mean everything to us. Their pain through this time is real, and we feel it and we hear them. We hope to fulfill our promises to them to build their trust moving forward.”
There isn’t much for Clippers fans to get excited about in the short-term as the team prepares to fly to Maui to begin training camp this week. The Clippers had already disbanded their superstar core and started preparing for a multi-year rebuild even before the NBA fined them $30 million, stripped them of five first-round draft picks and gutted their executive suite.
A run at a play-in spot this season went from unlikely to implausible on Monday when Redden revealed the extent of the injury woes the team is facing. The Clippers are bracing to begin the season without several key players including all-star Brandon Ingram, the centerpiece of their return from the trade that sent Leonard to Toronto.
Doctors discovered last May while performing surgery to address a right heel injury that Ingram had a partially torn Achilles tendon. There is no timetable for Ingram’s return, but Redden said the recovery typically takes six months less than a full Achilles tear.
“He won’t be ready for the start of the season,” Redden said. “We’ll reevaluate when we get there.”
Ingram characterized his rehabilitation timeline as a “week-by-week thing” and said he already is doing some on-court workouts.
“I feel good about the spot that I’m in right now,” Ingram said. “I won’t be participating in training camp much, but I’ll be out there a little bit.”
In addition to Ingram, Clippers leadership also provided pessimistic updates on center Yanic Konan Niederhäuser and guards Bradley Beal and Jordan Miller. Inflammation in Beal’s knee is preventing him from participating at the start of training camp, while Konan Niederhäuser (foot) will not be ready for opening night and Miller (shoulder) will be reevaluated in five months.
Those injuries weaken a roster already riddled with questions. Without Ingram, there is no obvious choice to fill the void at small forward left by Leonard. The Clippers also are thin at center and will have to lean heavily on 38-year-old Brook Lopez until Konan Niederhäuser is healthy enough to contribute.
When asked why fans who feel betrayed by the Leonard saga should stick with the Clippers, Redden said he’s always admired the loyalty of the organization’s fanbase. Clippers fans have supported a team that has been overshadowed in its own city for decades, that has only made one conference finals appearance and that is now grappling with the harshest punishment the NBA has ever handed down.
“What kept you a Clippers fan during all that time, I hope we still embody that,” Redden said. “There’s a competitiveness, a grit, a spirit, a fight that we still have. And, you know, words are easy to say, but we’re going to show you with our actions … that you can still be proud to put on a Clippers jersey or hat and feel proud to be a Clippers fan.”
One person who embodies the loyalty that Redden is asking for is Lue, now entering his seventh season as Clippers coach. Even after the penalties came down earlier this month, Lue said he never considered stepping down or going elsewhere.
“Ballmer has been tremendous to me,” Lue said. “So my loyalty to him is to the end.”
Credit Clippers players who met with reporters on Monday for putting on a brave face on the eve of training camp. To a man, they insisted that morale inside the locker room remains high and that they’re optimistic they can exceed meager expectations.
“I know there’s little-to-no expectations for us this year, but we have enough in the building to compete,” Ingram said.
Added guard Darius Garland with a straight face: “The vibes are immaculate right now.”
The idea of those vibes remaining immaculate all season seems far-fetched, but there is some reason for long-term optimism. The NBA’s well-deserved sledgehammer of a punishment is a setback to the Clippers’ rebuild but not a deathblow.
They still have a top-five draft pick from a year ago in Keaton Wagler. They still have the two first-round picks they acquired in the Leonard deal. They still have a ton of salary cap flexibility beginning in two years. They still have an elite coach and a deep front office. They still have a stunning new arena in a destination city. And most importantly they still have the richest owner in sports to splurge in free agency or to take on bad contracts for draft picks.
“Yeah, we’re going through some challenges right now,” Redden said. “Wouldn’t be the first time the Clippers went through challenges.”
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