Clippers vs Kings Injury Report: Who’s Out for Opening Night?

Nine players are on the NBA's official injury report for Wednesday night's season opener between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Clippers at Intuit Dome.

The latest report from the league lists all five Clippers as out, while Sacramento has three players ruled out and guard Malik Monk at questionable.

Forward Brandon Ingram came over from the Toronto Raptors and is still working back from heel surgery in May that also repaired a partially torn right Achilles tendon.

Word came out in early October that he and center Yanic Konan Niederhauser would miss the start of the year, with Niederhauser coming off surgery for a Lisfranc injury in his right foot from March that ended his rookie season.

Guard Bradley Beal is out with inflammation in his right knee that flared up as he worked back from last season's hip injury.

Guard Max Strus partially tore the plantar fascia in his right foot just five minutes into the preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 4, and he was set to be reevaluated in four weeks.

Fellow guard Jordan Miller is also out after surgery on his left rotator cuff, and the ESPN injury tracker does not have him back until March.

Guard Kobe Sanders is the good news, since he missed the whole preseason with a hip injury but is expected to play and is not on the report.

Head coach Tyronn Lue also said on Saturday that forward Isaiah Jackson will begin the season as the starting center.

Sacramento's list got worse on Sunday when guard Ben Simmons tore his right Achilles tendon during a live drill in practice, and the team said he would need surgery.

Simmons, who finished the 2024-25 season with the Clippers, had signed a one-year deal with the Kings this summer, and in a social media post shared by the Associated Press, he wrote, "I've faced challenges before that tested me mentally, physically, and emotionally, and I've found a way through every single one of them. This injury is another chapter in my journey, not the end of my story."

The Kings are also without center Maxime Raynaud, who has a right patella subluxation, and center Dylan Cardwell, who has a left calf strain, and both young big men are expected to miss the first couple of weeks of the season.

Monk is the name I would keep an eye on before tip, because he has soreness in his left ankle, did not appear in the preseason and only got back to practice this week.

I think the Clippers are missing more talent than the Kings, since Ingram, Beal and Strus were all supposed to be big parts of the rotation, and that puts a heavy load on guard Darius Garland while rookie guard Keaton Wagler and forward Rui Hachimura must step up while Strus is out.

I still expect the Clippers to win this one at home, because Sacramento went 22-60 last season and is thin at center.

A win would help before road games against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday and the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.