Two-time All-Star forward Brandon Ingram thinks he’s getting close to making his 2026/27 — and Clippers — debut, tweets sideline reporter Ohm Youngmisuk. Ingram has been doing 5-on-5 work with contact in recent days as he ramps up his activity following offseason heel surgery.
While Ingram said his heel is feeling better now, he doesn’t have a target return date, according to Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link).
“Whenever I feel ready. I still gotta do some more 5-on-5 and get comfortable on the floor, comfortable jumping and doing stuff that I do normally on the floor. It’s going to take a little time,” Ingram said.
Ingram, who was traded to the Clippers in September as part of the Kawhi Leonard blockbuster, confirmed on Friday that his surgeon discovered and repaired a partially torn Achilles tendon while Ingram was undergoing surgery to remove bone spurs from his heel, per Murray (Twitter link).
While the Clippers have struggled to open the season, currently holding a 1-7 record that’s tied for the worst mark in the NBA, Ingram commended his teammates for how hard they’ve been playing and thinks brighter days are on the horizon, as Murray relays (Twitter links).
“Max (Strus) came back and had a big impact on the team. He’s made the team better. Yanic (Konan Niederhauser) is coming back soon. We got some guys coming back soon. So, you know. As a full team, I think we’re gonna mesh well,” Ingram said. “And we’ll be a little better than we have been. But these games that we lost, we’ve been right in the game. Just fix a few mistakes and we can win those games.”
Here’s more on the league’s two Los Angeles-based teams:
- Second-year forward Adou Thierowho has missed the Lakers’ first nine games with a left knee injury, will be active for Friday’s contest vs. Portland, the team announced (Twitter link via Khobi Price of The California Post). Prior to dealing with the injury, the 2025 second-round pick received praise from head coach JJ Redick and guard Luka Doncic for the improvements he made over the summer.
- In a feature story for The Athletic (free link), Dan Woike details how Doncic has grown comfortable during his time with the Lakers after the Slovenian superstar was initially stunned to be traded from Dallas to Los Angeles in February 2025. A major factor in Doncic’s acclimation process was developing a close bond with former head video coordinator Michael Wexlerwho’s the same age as Doncic and was tasked with helping him warm up before games. Wexler was promoted to assistant coach over the summer. “We’re all searching for companionship in a different way,” Redick said. “And when you decide you’re going to pursue a team sport and a career in a team sport with a long season that is highly stressful and makes you have high levels of anxiety at different times — and I mean, like, performance anxiety, the good type of anxiety and some of the bad probably, too — but it’s really beneficial to do it with people that you enjoy being around.”
- Rookie wing Cameron Carr and guard Bronny James were assigned to the Coachella Valley Lakers ahead of the G League team’s season opener on Friday, tweets Marc Stein of The Stein Line. Carr recently made his NBA debut following an oblique strain, while James has been out of the rotation to open his third season.