Who is playing? Game status for San Antonio Spurs vs. LA Clippers

The San Antonio Spurs (3-3) look to break .500 for the first time with a win in LA against the Clippers in the seventh game of their 2024-25 season. It will be the first of four games against the basketball stepchild of Los Angeles, and even though Paul George has left the team, playing against them is not a given. This is a talented team that could pose serious challenges for Spurs.

While the Silver and Black field a very young roster, the Clippers team is full of veterans. San Antonio will have to be careful not to let its lack of experience show in a late road game (9:30 a.m. CDT) on the West Coast. Neither team is at full strength, but at times this makes the team unpredictable, requiring great attention to detail.

There's nothing new to report regarding the Silver and Black's injury situation, and that's a good thing. Spurs have already played one game in a row and haven't had more than one day off between games so far, but Victor Wembanyama has been fit for every game. This is further evidence that San Antonio has no interest in wrapping Wemby in plastic – they want him to play.

The Clippers don't have a long injury list, but the name that appears in the report is the most important, but not at all surprising.

Kawhi Leonard has yet to play this season as he once again recovers from the seemingly irretrievable. This knee has troubled Klaw for years, and as San Antonio's medical team predicted many moons ago, it will continue to trouble him for the rest of his career. For Leonard, it's an unfortunate reality, but a reality nonetheless.

The Clippers are 2-4 without Leonard in the lineup so far this season and have lost their last three games in a row. They opened their own arena this season for the first time in franchise history – the Intuit Dome – but they have yet to win a game in their brand new building.

Except for the last loss, they were close in every loss, which is not surprising since the opponent was OKC. LA showed a somewhat inconsistent talent for scoring points, being over 110 in three of their six games, but they seem to be having pecking order issues at the end of games.

Deciding who gets to shoot the ball between James Harden and Norman Powell in 2024 has to be a special form of torture for Clippers fans.

Obviously, San Antonio wants to take advantage of these issues and increase the margin of victory, but after that, the Clippers need to get their act together. Remember, the Oklahoma City Thunder own the rights to LA's unprotected first-round pick in the 2025 draft. The last thing the Spurs need is for OKC to add a lottery pick from one of the highest-rated draft classes in recent memory.

No matter what happens this year, the Spurs will have a chance to fundamentally retool this summer. We don't need OKC to move further away once we take steps to close the gap.

As for the Clippers, San Antonio's youth might show up on offense due to the long travel and late game, but the defense is traveling and they've been great on that side. As long as they keep it up, they should win this game.