LA Clippers injury update: 6-foot-5 star hit with concerning news in preseason opener vs Golden State Warriors

Max Strus was five minutes into his Clippers debut when a routine cut turned ugly. The 6-foot-5 forward came off a screen, caught a pass from Darius Garland, and hopped away from the play on one leg. Coach Ty Lue called a timeout. Strus walked to the locker room and never came back to the preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors.Reports point to a right foot problem, and the Clippers have not offered a diagnosis. Brandon Ingram is already sidelined for the start of the season, and opening night is about three weeks away.Max Strus injury update: What happened in the Clippers' preseason openerMax Strus went down on Sunday night with a little over seven minutes left in the first quarter. The play itself looked ordinary. Strus ran off a screen with Stephen Curry chasing him, took the pass from Garland on the wing, and seemed to tweak something right after the catch. He hopped on the left foot to get away from the action. No other player was close enough to blame, so this looks like a non-contact injury.Lue stopped the game, and Strus went to see the team doctors. Clippers reporter Joey Linn relayed that the forward would not return with a right foot injury. Other accounts of the play call it a right ankle issue, which means the exact problem is still unclear.Strus played five minutes, grabbed one rebound, and missed the lone shot he took. Rookie Keaton Wagler picked up most of the minutes left behind, while Rui Hachimura, Derrick Jones Jr. and Cam Christie also saw larger roles.Why the Strus injury could hurt the Clippers' seasonStrus was likely headed for a first-half cap anyway, since teams usually go easy in preseason. That does not explain the limp. Foot trouble has followed him before. Last season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Strus missed the first 67 games while recovering from a fractured left foot and finished with only 12 appearances. In those games, he averaged 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists, shooting 44.3 percent from the field and 40.2 percent from three.There is one encouraging detail. This time the right foot is involved, so it does not appear to be a flare-up of the old break. Strus arrived in August through a five-team trade centered on Peyton Watson, which makes this a first look at the fit that got cut short.The roster has little cushion. Ingram came over from the Toronto Raptors in the Kawhi Leonard trade, and nobody has a return date for him. The Leonard penalty also cost the Clippers their first-round picks, so a losing year would sting twice. A crowded Western Conference does not leave much room to stumble.Stay updated with the latest Asian Games 2026 news, check the Asian Games medal tally and complete Asian Games schedule.Get the latest Sports News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.