Clippers center Ivica Zubac will miss time with calf injury
The big man will miss his second straight game on Tuesday night and is out for the foreseeable future.
LOS ANGELES — LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac, who missed Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves after being a last-second scratch due to right calf tightness, will miss a considerable chunk of time, the team said on Tuesday. Zubac will be reevaluated in four weeks.
The center aggravated the injury on Friday in a win over the Memphis Grizzlies before missing Sunday’s game entirely.
The big man was ruled out for Tuesday’s game when the team released the injury report late Monday afternoon, a sign the ailment had progressively gotten worse as it had also been moved from right calf tightness to a right calf strain.
“It is different because you’re always used to big Zu being on the floor,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before Tuesday’s game against Oklahoma City.
“He has always been reliable and has always been an Ironman, like you said, always available and so to miss this much time, an extended period of time, it’s going to be hard on us, but more so it’s hard on him. He wants to be out there, and so I just feel bad for Zu.”
Ivica Zubac was averaging career bests in points (12.4), blocks (1.4), and field goal percentage (65.5) prior to the injury. Zubac also managed to grab 9.7 rebounds per game while supplying 13 double-doubles.
Since the lineup change on Nov. 17, which allowed a more spread floor that gave the Clippers a greater propensity to run an increased amount of James Harden and Zubac pick-and-roll action, the center averaged 13.1 points, 10.2 rebounds, and shot 68.1 percent from the field across 28 games.
In the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era, which began when the team signed Leonard in the 2019 offseason and traded for George at the same time, the Clippers are 0-4 when Leonard and George have played without Zubac. The team has been outscored by 39 points.
Backup centers Daniel Theis and Mason Plumlee will see a considerable boost in their respective roles, with some anticipating Plumlee to be the full-time starting center until Zubac returns and Theis retaining his role as the team’s main reserve five that fits well alongside bench guards Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell.
“[Zubac] definitely improved over the course of the year working with James [Harden] and the things he’s been able to do, but now, like I said, next man up and we got to be ready to play,” Lue said Tuesday. “Even though it’s going to be a hard loss for us, but like I said, our guys, like I said, with Mase [Plumlee] getting in better shape, getting back to himself, we’ll be OK.”
Mason Plumlee is starting Tuesday’s game in place of Zubac, Lue informed reporters.
Losing Zubac is no small thing. Before this calf injury, Zubac had played in 360 out of the team’s last 372 regular season contests. The Clippers had gone 222-138 (.617) in those 360 games.
Zubac has not just been an ‘Iron Man’ within team circles. The 26-year-old has also been a pillar of success and a key to their evolving defensive scheme while being one of the league's best post-up centers and rollers.
The Clippers have been 2.7 points per 100 possessions better defensively with Zubac on the floor compared to off this season, and Zubac’s 1.28 points per possession on post-ups this season ranks tied for fourth in the NBA among players with at least 25 such possessions. Zubac is also averaging 1.24 points per possession as a roll man, sitting tied with Denver’s Nikola Jokic.
“You just got to understand, [Zubac] was a scratch right after they announced the starting lineup,” Lue said in regards to Zubac missing Sunday’s game.
Lue continued: “Then he was a scratch, and so just his mindset of trying to play, he wanted to play and it was a late scratch and then you find out the next day that he’s out four weeks because of his calf. And so, it just tells you how much he wants to play, how much he wants to be on the floor, and how much he wants to compete.”
The Clippers now have to hope they can survive sustained life without their reliable and durable rock in the middle. The team presently sits 25-14 and fourth in the Western Conference, but there’s no telling how much this injury could affect them moving forward.
“We’re going to definitely miss Zu,” Lue told reporters.