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Clippers Game Preview: Season Opener Against Jazz
The Clippers kick off their 2026 season with a road game against the youthful and likely bad Utah Jazz.
Game
Information
Where: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
When: 6:00 PM PT
How to Watch: FanDuel Sports SoCal
Projected
Starting Lineups
Clippers: James Harden – Bradley Beal – Derrick Jones Jr. – Kawhi Leonard – Ivica Zubac
Jazz: Keyonte George – Brice Sensabaugh – Ace Bailey – Lauri Markkanen – Walker Kessler
Injuries
Clippers: Jordan Miller Out (Hamstring)
Jazz: Ace Bailey Questionable (Illness), Georges Niang Out (Foot), Isaiah Collier Out (Hamstring)
The Big Picture
The Clippers’
long, drama-filled offseason is finally over. The revamped Clippers roster,
boasting new additions such as Bradley Beal, Brook Lopez, John Collins, and
Chris Paul, will attempt to do what the franchise has not done in five years,
which is get beyond the first round of the playoffs. The Clippers certainly
have their most well-rounded roster since those early 213 era teams, as they no
longer have gaping holes at backup center or backup point guard. The Clippers are
old, but they are deep, coming into the season healthy, and seem to have
positive vibes. Let’s see what they can do.
The
Antagonist
The Jazz also turned over a lot of their roster, sending out veteran mainstays such as Jordan Clarkson, Collin Sexton, and John Collins while adding a motley assortment of aged vets (Kevin Love, Kyle Anderson, Georges Niang, Jusuf Nurkic) and young guys (Ace Bailey, Walter Clayton Jr.). The Jazz are under no allusions about how good they will be this year: even though they have promising young talent on the roster, headlines by Bailey, they do not have a foundational superstar yet, and they need to get that player through a high pick in this upcoming draft. Lauri Markkanen is a fringe All Star caliber player, Walker Kessler is a solid starting center, and the team does have an excellent young coach in Will Hardy, but the Jazz seem like a lock to be the worst team in the Western Conference this year.
Notes
Get the Win: First game of the season, first time I’ll repeat my oft-spoken phrase. If the Clippers are serious about getting a top seed and making a deep playoff run, these are the kinds of games they need to win. Yes, they’re on the road at altitude against a younger team. Yes, the Jazz have real talent. But the Clippers are better at every single position and have a much stronger bench. It would be great if the Clippers came out and sent a message with their play in this one.
Who Starts: It seems fairly clear that the Clippers’ fifth starter will be Derrick Jones Jr., but we do not have that 100% confirmed yet. On the Jazz side of things, the only two guys that I have locked in are Markkanen and Kessler. My guess is they want to give Ace the starting nod, as he had a strong preseason and is the highest draft pick on the roster. Keyonte George is the most seasoned ballhandler on the team (in his third season!), and with Collier out I’d guess he moves in at PG. The final spot could be Brice Sensabaugh or Taylor Hendricks, but I took a stab at Sensabaugh due to his increased experience and shooting acumen.
Who is the Clippers’ 11th Man: We know that eight Clippers are locked into roles – Harden, Beal, Kawhi, DJJ/Collins, Zu, Brook, and CP3 – but we don’t know who the last two players are in their rotation. Ty Lue has already said he’s not playing an 11-man rotation, which means one of Bogi, Kris Dunn, or Nic Batum is out of the rotation to start the year. Based on how Ty has talked about point of attack defense, you have to think that Dunn will play at least some minutes. Ultimately, I think Nico gets the nod over Bogi as the 10th man, but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was the other way around. I just think Nico has so much trust from everyone on the roster and coaching staff, and it would be tough to not play him when healthy. Then again, he’s such a good fit they could mothball him. We will see in this one!
Do the Clippers Stagger: In the preseason, Ty Lue largely did hockey substitutions in the first quarter, bringing in all five of his bench players at once for the starters. The starters would then trickle back in a bit more gradually in the second quarter, but without a true stagger. I’m curious if that trend will carry into the regular season – I’d guess not. There are three potential stagger candidates with the second unit: Harden, Beal, and Kawhi. Beal seems like the most logical pairing, but this is his first game with the team so I don’t know if Ty will foist that responsibility on him yet. It remains to be seen, but it seems silly to not do at least some staggering for offensive firepower purposes.
Clippers Game Preview: Season Opener Against Jazz
Robert Flom