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Clippers Notes: Beal, Collins, Sanders, Paul

October 29th, 2025 at 5:36pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers signed Bradley Beal to replace the scoring punch they lost when they traded Norman Powell to Miami, but physical issues have prevented Beal from filling that role early in the season. He missed his second straight game with back soreness Tuesday night, and L.A. managed only 79 points in a loss to Golden State. The offense looked stagnant as the Clippers recorded just 10 assists for only the second time since Tyronn Lue became head coach, writes Law Murray of The Athletic.

“We are missing a key component, which is Bradley Beal, who gives us a shooter, a guy who can play-make, a guy who can handle the basketball as well,” Lue said. “You add to the mix, it does make us better.”

Beal began the season on a minutes restriction while recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee and was limited to 11 total points in the team’s first two games. Bogdan Bogdanovic is taking Beal’s place in the starting lineup, but he’s off to a terrible shooting start, connecting at 11.1% from the field and averaging just 1.0 PPG.

The malaise on offense is affecting several players, including offseason addition John Collins, who was limited to five points Tuesday night on 2-0f-6 shooting.

“Sometimes, it’s like that ball’s not moving as much. It’s a little bit sticky sometimes,” Collins said. “Another side of that is getting stops. Maybe we get stops and get in transition, get easy buckets. That just helps slow the game down a little bit. … A little bit of stagnation on our end. Gotta make it work.”

There’s more on the Clippers:

  • While he’s off to a slow start, Collins has added a new dimension to the team as a mobile 6’9″ forward who can score, notes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Having the extra size on the front line creates mismatches for opponents. “We get a big player like John on the floor, alongside Kawhi (Leonard) and teams have a nightmare as far as matching up,” Lue said. “You want to put a smaller guy on John, or a smaller guy on Kawhi? … (Collins’) versatility on both sides of the basketball is a huge thing for us.”
  • Second-round pick Kobe Sanders is week-to-week with a sprained right knee, a source tells Murray (Twitter link). There’s hope he can return in December, but Murray notes that he’s already the team’s second injured two-way player, joining Jordan Miller, who’s sidelined with a hamstring issue.
  • In an interview with Marc J. Spears of Andscape, Chris Paul says he feels fortunate to be back with the Clippers this late in his career and he hasn’t decided whether he’ll keep playing beyond this season.
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Clippers Notes: Beal, Miller, Paul, Depth, Aspiration

October 24th, 2025 at 7:50pm CST by Rory Maher

Veteran guard Bradley Beal signed a two-year contract with the Clippers this summer after a disappointing two-year run with the Suns ended in a buyout. The former All-Star said earlier this week that he already feels at home in Los Angeles, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register writes.

“It’s weird. It feels like I’ve been here for a few years; I feel that comfortable with the group,” Beal said Monday. “They welcomed me in that way too and just made me feel at home and it’s been great, man.”

Beal and the Clippers will face Phoenix in Friday’s home opener after L.A. was shockingly — and thoroughly — dominated in Wednesday’s season-opening loss in Utah. The 32-year-old is on a minutes restriction after undergoing arthroscopic right knee surgery during the offseason, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic.

Here’s more on the Clippers:

  • Third-year forward Jordan Miller is dealing with left hamstring soreness and will be reevaluated in about a week, Murray adds. Miller, the 48th overall pick of the 2023 draft, is on a two-way contract with the Clippers.
  • Chris Paul will make his Clippers homecoming on Friday after several years away from the organization, but don’t expect him to get swept up in the emotions of the moment, according to Carr. “I’ll definitely be happy and grateful to be here, but I’d be too locked in to really process what’s all happening,” the 40-year-old point guard said this week. Paul, a future Hall of Famer, signed a one-year deal with the Clips in free agency after spending last season in San Antonio.
  • As Murray writes for The Athletic, the Clippers are relatively long in the tooth, but they have a talented and deep roster, which may be challenging for head coach Tyronn Lue to navigate, given his preference for using nine-man rotations. “It feels good to have so many options and a lot of different combinations,” Lue said. “And every night could be different; every night is gonna be different. But it’s gonna take us 15, 20 games into the season to really understand our rotations, our chemistry, how we wanna play, who fits well together. So, I’m excited about that.” When the team is at full strength, Murray views Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nicolas Batum as the most likely veterans to be out of the rotation.
  • Robert O’Connor and Harriet Ryan of The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) take an in-depth look at Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg and the allegations that the Clippers used the now-bankrupt “green bank” company to circumvent the salary cap via a lucrative no-show endorsement deal with Kawhi Leonard. According to the WSJ, Sanberg told a high-ranking Aspiration executive the Clippers initiated the idea of the endorsement contract with Leonard, who was injured at the time. “This is important to the Clippers,” the executive recalled Sanberg saying. While some top Aspiration officials understandably had significant reservations about the deal, they purportedly did not question whether it was a means for owner Steve Ballmer and the Clippers to bypass the cap, per O’Connor and Ryan.
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Clippers Notes: Ballmer, Aspiration, Frank, Kawhi, Beal, Collins

September 29th, 2025 at 4:00pm CST by Rory Maher

Through his philanthropic arm, the Ballmer Group, Clippers owner Steve Ballmer donated $1.875MM to the Golden State Opportunity Foundation, a charity whose founder is disgraced former Aspiration co-founder Joe Sanberg, Pablo Torre reported Monday on his Pablo Torre Finds Out podcast (YouTube link).

Ballmer’s donation came in December 2024, more than a year-and-a-half after the Clippers ended their contract with Aspiration, and nearly a year after it was publicly reported that the now-bankrupt “green bank” company was under federal investigation, Torre observes. It also came a couple months after Sanberg’s co-conspirator was arrested.

It’s the latest update in an ongoing investigation from Torre, other members of the media, and the NBA, which hired a law firm to determine whether the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard circumvented the salary cap through their deals with Aspiration.

In a public statement on Monday, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank reiterated the Clippers “welcome” the league’s investigation and denied the accusations (Twitter video link via Joey Linn of SI.com).

“We feel confident we are on the right side of this,” Frank said in part.

For his part, Kawhi Leonard denied any wrongdoing and said the investigation wouldn’t be a distraction during the season (Twitter links via Law Murray of The Athletic). Leonard mentioned “conspiracies” multiple times, according to Murray.

“This is old… we already knew this was going to happen,” Leonard said.

Here’s more from the Clippers’ media day:

  • Bradley Beal had arthroscopic surgery sometime after the season ended, tweets Murray. Beal said he was playing through right knee inflammation last season with Phoenix and had the knee scoped, which helped, as he’s feeling “good” and “ready to go” now. However, the team said he would be a limited training camp participant, according to Murray, who adds (via Twitter) that Bogdan Bogdanovic (torn hamstring) will also be a limited participant. Leonard is considered healthy and a full participant.
  • Beal, who signed a two-year deal (second year player option) with the Clippers after being bought out by the Suns, says he loves living in Los Angeles and has talked with Frank about potentially ending his career with the team (Twitter links via Murray). The three-time All-Star knows he won’t be a primary scoring option for the Clippers and is welcoming the challenge of taking on tough defensive assignments.
  • Head coach Tyronn Lue views offseason acquisition John Collins as a power forward who can play some backup center at times, per Murray (Twitter link). The Clippers landed Collins in the three-team trade that sent Norman Powell to Miami. The 28-year-old big man will earn $26.58MM this season before hitting free agency next summer.
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Finland Shocks Serbia; Lithuania Also Reaches EuroBasket Quarterfinals

September 6th, 2025 at 5:52pm CST by Arthur Hill

Finland pulled off one of the biggest international upsets in recent years, surprising Serbia on Saturday in a EuroBasket elimination game, writes Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews. Jazz forward Lauri Markkanen led the way for the Finnish team with 29 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals in the 92-86 victory.

“Unreal,” Markkanen said. “Great performance by the team. We needed every single one of them tonight — everybody in the stands, the staff, the players. Big credit to them. We’re not done yet, but we’re gonna enjoy this. Obviously, that’s a heck of a team we just beat, and now we move forward.”

Led by perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokic and with six other current and former NBA players on its roster, Serbia was considered among the favorites for the EuroBasket title when the tournament began. But its prospects took a major hit when Bogdan Bogdanovic suffered a ruptured hamstring muscle last week that forced him out of the competition.

Serbia cruised to victories in its first four games behind dominant performances from Jokic. However, they dropped to second in Group A after Wednesday’s loss to Turkey and didn’t respond well in the knockout round.

Jokic delivered 33 points and eight rebounds on Saturday, but Serbia didn’t offer much other scoring punch outside of Nikola Jovic‘s 20 points. Despite his many career accomplishments, Jokic has never medaled at EuroBasket.

Up next for Finland will be the winner of Sunday’s game between France and Georgia.

Lithuania also advanced to the quarterfinals on Saturday with an 88-79 victory over Latvia, joining Turkey and Germany, who won earlier in the day.

With Rokas Jokubaitis sidelined by a serious knee injury, Arnas Velicka starred for the Lithuanians with 21 points, 12 assists and five rebounds, while Azuolas Tubelis contributed 18 points and 12 rebounds and Deividas Sirvydis added 18 points.

Latvia was eliminated despite a stellar performance from Hawks big man Kristaps Porzingis, who finished with 34 points and 19 rebounds before fouling out late in the game. Porzingis told reporters that he has mostly recovered from the illness that sapped his strength last season with Boston, according to BasketNews.

“It’s true that there were still some days when I wasn’t feeling perfect, and I’m still working my way back to having my gas tank full,” he said. “But as the tournament went on, I started to feel really good physically, and I knew I could push my body, I could push myself to go. Today was an example of that. It’s just up from now. Overall, a great summer with my Latvian teammates, being back home, enjoying time with family. And yeah, I would have liked to finish on a more beautiful note.”

Lithuania’s quarterfinals opponent will be the winner of Sunday’s Greece-Israel matchup.

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Bogdan Bogdanovic Ruled Out Of EuroBasket With Hamstring Injury

August 31st, 2025 at 9:28am CST by Dana Gauruder

Bogdan Bogdanovic has been ruled out of the EuroBasket due to a ruptured hamstring muscle, according to reports from Eurohoops.net and BasketNews.com.

The Serbian Federation released a statement regarding Bogdanovic’s injury, which also revealed that the Clippers wing will return to the United States to receive treatment.

“Bogdanovic has been diagnosed with a ruptured hamstring muscle, which will prevent him from playing in the remainder of the European Championship. In agreement with Bogdan’s club, the Los Angeles Clippers, the captain will undergo intensive therapy in the United States in the coming period to recover as quickly as possible,” the statement read.

Bogdanovic, the captain of the Serbian national team, was injured on a drive to the basket late in the second quarter against Portugal on Friday. Bogdanovic was examined by the Serbian and Clippers medical teams, which determined the extent of his injury.

In two EuroBasket 2025 appearances, the 33-year-old averaged 9.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists in 20 minutes per contest. Serbia has a 3-0 record in Group A and will now try to win the tournament without him.

The overriding concern for Bogdanovic now is whether his injury will linger into the NBA season. The veteran guard dealt with hamstring injuries early in the 2024/25 season, but played 30 games during the second half of the season for the Clippers, averaging 11.4 points and 3.2 assists in 25.0 minutes per game. He began the season with the Hawks, who dealt him to the Pacific Division club at the trade deadline.

Bogdanovic is set to make just over $16MM during the upcoming season and the Clippers hold a $16MM club option for the final year of his contract in 2026/27.

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Bogdan Bogdanovic Leaves EuroBasket Game With Injury

August 29th, 2025 at 8:03pm CST by Eli Cohen

The Serbian national team, and possibly the Clippers, suffered a blow during Serbia’s EuroBasket game against Portugal as Bogdan Bogdanovic exited the game with an apparent hamstring injury.

Bogdanovic, who serves as the captain of the national team, was injured on a drive to the basket late in the second quarter, according to Semih Tuna of EuroHoops. BasketNews adds that Bogdanovic came up grabbing the back of his leg, and wasn’t seen on the bench in the second half.

“He’s dealing with a hamstring problem, stayed in the locker room, and will need scans to determine more,” commentator Slobodan Sarenac clarified later in the game.

Bogdanovic ended the game with seven points and five rebounds. Serbia held on for an 80-69 victory, powered by Nikola Jokic, who led the way with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Nikola Jovic, who contributed 18 points.

Bogdanovic dealt with hamstring injuries early in the 2024/25 season, but finished the second half of the season with the Clippers, averaging 11.4 points and 3.2 assists in 25.0 minutes per night off the bench for LA

Team Serbia also lost Filip Petrusev, who was ejected after four minutes for what was deemed a violent act during a box out. Petrusev will be fined €5,000, and placed on a three-year probation, FIBA announced after the game. If he commits a similar offense during that three-year period, he would be suspended for one game on top of any additional sanctions handed out for the new incident.

Diogo Brito, who was the subject of Petrusev’s foul, expressed some level of disagreement with the referee’s ruling after the game, according to Alessandro Maggi of Sportando. “It was a hard box-out, but I still think it was just a basketball play,” Brito said.

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28 Current NBA Players Competing In FIBA EuroBasket 2025

August 27th, 2025 at 7:07am CST by Luke Adams

On the heels of the FIBA World Cup in 2023 and the Paris Olympics in 2024, the 2025 NBA offseason doesn’t feature a major international tournament in which the United States’ top stars are competing.

However, several of the league’s biggest names – including three-time Most Valuable Player Nikola Jokic, two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and five-time All-NBA first-teamer Luka Doncic – are taking part in FIBA EuroBasket 2025, which tipped off on Wednesday.

The tournament, also known as the European Basketball Championship, takes place every four years and features 24 European countries vying for a gold medal. The 24 teams who qualified for EuroBasket are split up into four groups and will face the other teams in their group across five games from August 27 to September 4.

At the end of group play, the top four teams from each group will advance to the knockout round, which is a single-elimination tournament featuring the remaining 16 countries.

By our count, 28 active NBA players are taking part in EuroBasket 2025, along with 30 former NBA players and several more who were selected in an NBA draft but have yet to play in the league.

Here’s the full list of current and former NBA players set to compete in EuroBasket, sorted by group and country:

Group A

Czechia (Czech Republic)

  • Current NBA players: Vit Krejci (Hawks)
  • Former NBA players: None

Estonia

  • Current NBA players: None
  • Former NBA players: Henri Drell

Latvia

Portugal

  • Current NBA players: Neemias Queta (Celtics)
  • Former NBA players: None

Serbia

Serbia’s roster also includes Nikola Milutinov and Vanja Marinkovic, who are former NBA draft picks but have never played in the league.

Turkey

Group B

Finland

Germany

Great Britain

Lithuania

Lithuania’s roster also includes Rokas Jokubaitis, a former NBA draft pick who has never played in the league, and Azuolas Tubelis, who was on a two-way contract with the Sixers during the 2023 offseason but was waived before the season began.

Montenegro

Sweden

  • Current NBA players: Pelle Larsson (Heat)
  • Former NBA players: None

Group C

Bosnia and Herzegovina

  • Current NBA players: Jusuf Nurkic (Jazz)
  • Former NBA players: None

Cyprus

  • Current NBA players: None
  • Former NBA players: None

Georgia

Greece

Italy

Italy’s roster also includes Matteo Spagnolo, Gabriele Procida, and Saliou Niang, who are former NBA draft picks but have never played in the league.

Spain

Group D

Belgium

  • Current NBA players: None
  • Former NBA players: None

France

France’s roster also includes Isaia Cordinier, a former NBA draft pick who has never played in the league.

Iceland

  • Current NBA players: None
  • Former NBA players: None

Israel

  • Current NBA players: Deni Avdija (Trail Blazers)
  • Former NBA players: None

Israel’s roster also includes Yam Madar, a former NBA draft pick who has never played in the league.

Poland

  • Current NBA players: None
  • Former NBA players: Jordan Loyd

Slovenia

  • Current NBA players: Luka Doncic (Lakers)
  • Former NBA players: None
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Nikola Jokic Headlines Serbia’s Roster For EuroBasket

August 23rd, 2025 at 12:03pm CST by Rory Maher

The Serbian national team has officially announced its roster for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament, according to FIBA. The 12-man group is headlined by Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP who won Finals MVP en route to Denver’s first title in 2023.

While Jokic is the most noteworthy name on Serbia’s roster, the team has three other active NBA players in captain Bogdan Bogdanovic (Clippers), Nikola Jovic (Heat) and Tristan Vukcevic (Wizards). The roster also features a handful of European stars, some of whom have NBA experience.

Here’s the full 12-man roster:

Thunder guard Nikola Topic and former Warriors big man Alen Smailagic were on Serbia’s preliminary roster but did not make the final cut.

Serbia is considered the favorite for the tournament, which begins on August 27 and ends on September 14. The team went 7-0 in exhibition games leading up to EuroBasket, per FIBA, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany and Slovenia.

The Serbian national team won a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and a silver at the 2023 World Cup (Jokic didn’t play after the Nuggets’ playoff run), but was surprisingly eliminated by Italy in the round of 16 during the last European championships in 2022. Spain won that edition of the tournament.

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EuroBasket Notes: Bogdanovic, Bona, Bertans, Avdija

August 20th, 2025 at 7:41pm CST by Arthur Hill

Serbia is among the favorites as EuroBasket gets ready to open next week, and captain Bogdan Bogdanovic recognizes the expectations for his star-filled team, according to Eurohoops. Serbia hasn’t won the event in 24 years, and it has been placed in a challenging Group A along with Turkey, Czechia, Portugal, Estonia and host Latvia.

“We are aware of it, but our focus should be on the upcoming tournament,” Bogdanovic said of the long drought. “Do we feel it? Yes. But that’s part of the game. You have to embrace it and push through.”

Bogdanovic has the advantage of playing alongside one of game’s elite talents in Nikola Jokic, and he said Jokic has a “front vision” that allows him to remain a few steps ahead of the action. He also discussed some of the tournament’s other stars, including Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Slovenia’s Luka Doncic.

“Giannis is pure athleticism,” Bogdanovic said. “You can’t make mistakes against him because he punishes them all the time. His defense is incredible, and running in transition makes him unstoppable. (Doncic) can kill anyone in a tournament. He can go for 50, 60 points … that’s what makes him special.”

There’s more from EuroBasket:

  • Sources tell BasketNews that Turkish big man Adem Bona is expected to be fine after limping off the court in Wednesday’s win over Lithuania (Twitter video link). Bona, who’s coming off a promising rookie season with the Sixers, played just seven minutes before the injury.
  • Former NBA forward Davis Bertans credits coach Luca Banchi with helping to make Latvia a legitimate contender on the international stage, per Giorgos Kyriakidis of BasketNews. EuroBasket will be Banchi’s final tournament with the national team. “Few coaches have left such a visible imprint in such a short span,” Bertans said. “Under his leadership, Latvia not only shed its underdog label but also carved out a new identity — one built on collective confidence, tactical sharpness, and the belief that no opponent was beyond reach.”
  • Deni Avdija leads Israel’s final 12-man roster for EuroBasket, according to BasketNews. He’s the only player with NBA experience for the Israelis, who went 3-2 in exhibition play and will be in Group D along with Belgium, France, Iceland, Slovenia and host Poland.
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EuroBasket Notes: Gallinari, Poirier, Musa, Bogdanovic

August 16th, 2025 at 8:32pm CST by Arthur Hill

In an interview with Giuseppe Nigro of Gazzetta dello Sport, f0rmer NBA forward Danilo Gallinari said this year’s EuroBasket will be the final international competition of his long career. Gallinari, 37, played for eight teams during a 16-year NBA career that wrapped up in 2023/24. He’s currently with the Vaqueros de Bayamón in Puerto Rico.

“Yes, it will be my last summer with the national team,” Gallinari said. “Knowing this gives an extra boost. These are feelings that a club does not give you. I have been part of many different groups: at the beginning I was the little one and I played with my idols, now I am the veteran and I see the young guys who have created a special group, they are strong and talented. They keep you young.”

Gallinari is coming off a major victory this week in Puerto Rico, leading the Vaqueros to their 17th league title while being named Finals MVP. He hopes to duplicate that success with Italy to provide a memorable ending to his international career.

“I’m missing a medal with the national team and then I can be happy,” he said. “It is also difficult to quantify what could have been and was not: I started in the Azzurri when I was 17-18 years old when there was still the group of the 2004 Olympics, and of all the possible summers since then I have missed eight. There are many. It makes me think if I had played those eight what could have happened, better not to think about it. Every summer anything can happen, even this one.”

There’s more EuroBasket news to pass along:

  • French center Vincent Poirier had to withdraw from EuroBasket due to injury concerns involving his right knee, writes Yann Ohnona of L’Equipe. France is already missing Victor Wembanyama, Mathias Lessort and Rudy Gobert, so the team will be undersized in the tournament.
  • Dzanan Musa of Bosnia and Herzegovina may also have to miss the tournament after undergoing emergency surgery due to pain in his abdominal area, according to Eurohoops. “Dzanan expressed his desire to do everything possible to ensure his recovery and to leave room for a possible appearance at the upcoming EuroBasket, in line with his great desire to be with the team in Cyprus,” a representative of Musa told Radio Sarajevo. “In this situation, his appearance is certainly uncertain.” 
  • Serbia remained unbeaten in exhibition play with a 29-point win over the Czech Republic on Saturday, and Bogdan Bogdanovic, who led the way with 20 points, believes his team is ready to make a strong run at the EuroBasket title, per Basket News. “We approached with respect and played with it. I think we could be a bit better, especially on defense, but that’s why we play friendly games,” he said.
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