The LA Clippers Montrezl Harrell won’t play Thursday while Patrick Beverley is a maybe.
The NBA season officially resumes tomorrow with two games to kick it all off. While fans will be excited to see the LA Clippers back on the court, it won’t be all of the LA Clippers. Montrezl Harrell will reportedly miss the opener while Patrick Beverley remains an unknown.
Both Harrell and Beverley had to leave the bubble to attend to family matters and missed the team’s final two scrimmages. According to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes, Harrell will miss more time with Thursday officially being out of the question.
Haynes also notes that as of now, no one knows just when Harrell will return, meaning the Clippers could be without their top two bench scorers for the first two games. Harrell’s partner off the bench, Lou Williams, will miss the team’s first two regular-season games after he was forced by the league to undergo a ten-day quarantine.
Speaking to the media, head coach Doc Rivers acknowledged that the lack of Williams and Harrell will be tough but the team will have to adjust.
"Well, no one is going to replace those two; we know that. So we’re going to have to try to make it up in other ways with a different rotation for sure."
Beverley’s status, on the other hand, is still up in the air. During the same media availability on Wednesday morning, Doc Rivers said he was upgraded to a maybe.
Having Beverley back helps in more than one way. Obviously his defense and intensity in the starting lineup next to Kawhi Leonard and Paul George is huge. However, it might be more important that his return would also move Reggie Jackson back to the bench.
Jackson being back with the bench unit will somewhat help offset the loss of Williams and Harrell in the first couple of games as he is both a capable scorer and facilitator for the second unit. No, it won’t be a full replacement by any means but should definitely help.
The LA Clippers and Lakers face off at 9:00 PM EST/ 6:00 PM PST on Thursday.