As much as Tyronn Lue tries to maintain a positive outlook during training camp this week in Hawaii, the task that lies ahead looks incredibly grim.
The Los Angeles Clippers head coach has never had a losing season in his current role now entering his seventh season.
He’s also never had to endure an offseason quite like this one.
The Clippers have gone from three future Hall of Famers on the roster a year ago — Chris Paul, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard — to none this year.
Owner Steve Ballmer, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank and president of business operations Gillian Zucker are all serving suspensions in the wake of Leonard being found to have violated the salary cup circumvention rules via endorsement deals.
Leonard’s trade to the Toronto Raptors, which had been held up for months, officially went through last month, bringing Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and multiple draft picks.
Ingram, who averaged 21.5 points and nearly six rebounds a game last year, will not be ready for the start of the season after having surgery on his heel in May. During that process, doctors discovered a partially torn Achilles tendon.
There’s opportunity for a roster mixed with 10-year veterans of the league and young up-and-comers like rookie No. 1 pick Keaton Wagler, who had his moments during the NBA Summer League.
Playing hard has to be ahead of everything,” Lue said Wednesday. “We’ve got some different defensive philosophies … we have some new guys and (assistant Jeff Van Gundy) does a good job of getting everyone acclimated to what we’re trying to do. We’re definitely a smaller team in height and size. We’ve got to be tough-minded. We’ve got to be tough every night, we’ve got to rebound the basketball every night and we’ve got to bring a physicality to rebound the ball.”
Los Angeles will play Golden State in an exhibition game on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center.
Two NBA veterans who are enjoying some of the better years of their career in Los Angeles are forward Derek Jones Jr. and guard Kris Dunn.
Both players are entering their 11th seasons in the league playing for their sixth different team.
Jones Jr. never averaged double digits in a season in scoring until he arrived in Los Angeles two years ago.
Undrafted out of a UNLV, Jones Jr. sees an opportunity to make even more of an impact on this team.
“Everybody enjoys being around each other,” he said. “We all want to see each other be great. Everybody saying that we underdogs and everything right now but we’ve got the mindset that we know what we can go — go out and show it.”
Dunn, who was the fifth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft out of Providence, played in all 82 games for the Clippers last season averaging 7.3 points and 1.6 steals in 27 minutes per game.
After playing on multiple 10-day contracts in his NBA career, he signed a 3-year, $16.3 million contract with the Clippers via a sign-and-trade agreement from Utah involving Russell Westbrook before the start of the 2024-25 season.
“We understand how important this season is for us and we want to come out with a good start, and I think we did that showing up early in the summer,” Dunn said. “Everybody has bought in.”
Dunn, who has twice averaged two steals a game in a season, is enjoying playing alongside Wagler, who was the Big Ten Freshman of the Year last season at Illinois.
“Me and Keaton, we kind of built the relationship just being genuine,” Dunn said. “I didn’t come in and be like I’m going to mentor a kid. I don’t do things like that. I just got to play a lot with him in pickup. One thing I learned about Keaton is he processes things really fast. He’s been playing well. My main thing for him is just make sure your mentals are good.”
NBA exhibition game
At Bankoh Arena at Stan Sheriff Center
Los Angeles Clippers vs. Golden State Warriors
>> Sunday, 1 p.m.
