What post-Kawhi Clippers have in Brandon Ingram, and remaining voids to fill to compete

When the LA Clippers visited the Toronto Raptors in the middle of January, they were running on fumes. It was their 12th straight game with no more than one day of rest. Not helping matters was star small forward Kawhi Leonard being downgraded to out for that afternoon game.

Another issue was the Clippers were preparing to play Brandon Ingram, then the Raptors’ new small forward, who gave the LA consistent levels of belt throughout his stint with the New Orleans Pelicans. Entering January’s game, Ingram’s Pelicans had won 11 of 13 games against the Clippers and coach Tyronn Lue, including the 2022 Western Conference 8-9 Play-In Tournament game that allowed the 36-win Pelicans to clinch a playoff spot over the 42-win Clippers.

In those 13 Pelicans-Clippers matchups, Ingram averaged 22.4 points on 51.4 percent shooting and led New Orleans to eight double-digit wins. Although none of Ingram’s Pelicans squads finished with a better record than Lue’s Clippers, that didn’t matter when Ingram saw LA.

After we got Clippers personnel updates out of the way, asked Tyronn Lue about Brandon Ingram, who won 11 of his last 13 games vs Clippers as a member of the Pelicans and now gets to face them as a Raptor for the first time pic.twitter.com/QQhzpJKqWQ

— Law Murray ♣️ (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 16, 2026

But this season went differently. Ingram was contained in both matchups, finishing with 37 points on 31 shots from the field and only three free-throw attempts. The Clippers also forced him into a 6:8 assist-turnover ratio.

Now, Ingram is set to be Leonard’s replacement for the Clippers, at least to start the 2026-27 NBA season. When Leonard played, the Clippers were 217-114 (65.6 win percentage) in the regular season, 17-18 in the postseason (48.6 win percentage) and 0-1 in the Play-In Tournament.

So much of Leonard’s tenure with the Clippers was defined by his absences, though. Over Leonard’s seven seasons, LA had a 48.4 regular-season win percentage with Leonard in the lineup, including a 40 percent mark in the playoffs and a 0-2 Play-In Tournament record.

Sure, Leonard is moving on and taking whatever theoretical contender ceiling his presence provided. But Lue and the Clippers should be used to planning life without him. They won almost half of their Leonard-less games over a seven-year span, doing the best when they had to enter the 2020-21 and 2024-25 seasons without him.

Before assessing how Ingram could be used, let’s set the table on the Clippers who remain on a standard contract from last season’s team: starteing point guard Darius Garland, shooting guard Kris Dunn, forward Derrick Jones Jr. and center Brook Lopez; reserve wings Jordan Miller, Kobe Sanders, and Cam Christie (contract guarantee date postponed through summer league); and reserve centers Isaiah Jackson and the injured Yanic Konan Niederhäuser (Lisfranc).

Ingram replaces Leonard, rookie Keaton Wagler out of Illinois supplants Bradley Beal (declined player option), and newly acquired Gradey Dick stands in for Bogdan Bogdanović (Houston Rockets). That’s 12 Clippers on standard contracts, with second-round draft picks Baba Miller out of Cincinnati and Nick Martinelli from Northwestern unsigned; fellow second-rounder Narcisse Ngoy out of France will play at Auburn next season while the Clippers retain his draft rights. Miller could be a standard contract addition, while Martinelli is more likely a two-way contract.

Last season’s Clippers were slightly below average in pick-and-roll volume. Only four teams drove less often than the Clippers, who had a slower pace than every team except the Rockets and the Boston Celtics. Only the Dallas Mavericks passed the ball less often. Even with Garland replacing James Harden in February, the Clippers featured an isolation-heavy offense with an intent to reach the paint.

Brandon Ingram

The Clippers’ offensive identity is key, because Ingram profiles similarly to Leonard. The Raptors are a cut-heavy team, especially compared to the Clippers, and one with relatively scarce isolations. There was more ball movement and body movement in Toronto’s offense and fewer pick-and-rolls, though the Raptors weren’t exactly a running or drive-heavy team. The Raptors ranked third in both percentage of points scored in the paint and percentage of field goals assisted; the Clippers ranked 15th and 29th in those categories.

Ingram, who turns 29 in September, is a 6-foot-8, 190-pound on-ball presence. When the Raptors needed someone to cook out of a ball screen or isolation, Ingram was their likeliest option. Among Raptors, only fellow All-Star Scottie Barnes posted up more. What distinguished Ingram was the myriad ways he scored his team-high 21.5 points per game. He took 4.6 free-throw attempts per game. Ingram averaged 3.7 assists despite sharing the lineup with Barnes and starting point guard Immanuel Quickley; that was still more assists than Leonard last season (3.6), and also a seven-year low for Ingram.

Ingram also remains among the game’s most prolific midrange scorers, making 47.1 percent of his 5.4 attempts per game. Only DeMar DeRozan and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander averaged more such makes than Ingram last season. Ingram also made 52.2 percent of his corner 3s, attempting 1.2 per game. Only Royce O’Neale and Isaiah Joe made a higher percentage of corner 3s among 100 qualified players last season (min. 80 attempts). Ingram is not as good above the break, making only 33.2 percent of such 3s. If he has to put the ball on the floor, the two-time All-Star is much more comfortable and proficient inside the 3-point line.

Of course, Leonard was one of the NBA’s best on-ball threats en route to a career-high 27.9 points per game last season. He’s a significantly better scorer and shooter than Ingram. Leonard is also significantly more impactful as a defender. Both are good rebounders with great length, but Ingram is not nearly as disruptive, averaging only 0.7 steals per game for his career. Leonard just had his eighth career season with at least 100 steals.

The Clippers had Leonard guarding Kevin Durant and LeBron James last season. Ingram was hidden on Dean Wade in the playoffs while usually taking on the less threatening perimeter options against Toronto’s defense. The Raptors had the NBA’s fifth-best defense last season, and Ingram’s Pelicans had the NBA’s sixth-best defense in 2024, but both teams were better defensively without Ingram on the floor. He’s closer to Amir Coffey defensively than Leonard, and the Clippers must scheme accordingly.

Analyzing Ingram, especially in the wake of Leonard’s departure, isn’t complete without addressing two issues: availability and physicality.

Ingram played 77 games this past season, but he averaged only 52 games played in the previous eight seasons and missed the final two playoff games of the quarterfinals with right heel inflammation. That capped a brutal playoff series for Ingram in which he made only 32.8 percent of his shots. He has been bothered by an increase in physicality, something that Lue and Clippers defensive coordinator Jeff Van Gundy are aware of after the three were with Team USA for a fourth-place finish in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Getting Ingram through a season will be one challenge, and, if the Clippers make the playoffs, preventing Ingram’s performance from cliff-diving will be another.

Keaton Wagler

I went deep on Wagler last month. I’ve been consistently listing him as a backup point guard rather than a starting shooting guard alongside Garland, because I lean towards incumbents in offseason depth charts. Starting Dunn would give the Clippers a chance on defense next season, especially since LA needs a second-unit primary playmaker more than a teenager who needs to get stronger to play next to Garland. But Wagler was drafted with Garland in mind, just like Beal was signed last season with Harden in mind. Initially, Beal was a starter, but he played all of 121 minutes last season, with none of those minutes coming in fourth quarters because of his minute and game restriction before a season-ending hip surgery in November. The bar for Wagler to clear Beal’s production is on the ground.

Gradey Dick

A 6-foot-7, 200-pound shooting guard, Dick comes to the Clippers with a similar career arc to Luke Kennard’s in 2020. Unlike Kennard, though, Dick is unlikely to be rewarded with an extension before his first game with LA. Dick isn’t merely a one-dimensional shooter, as he has also been used as a pick-and-roll option dating back to his one-and-done year at Kansas. At his best, Bogdanović was also a versatile on/off-ball option. Dick’s problem is that he’s not a threatening shot creator, and his above-the-break jumper completely fell off, as he made only 24.3 percent of such 3s to a 39.4 percent mark in the corners. Bogdanović struggled through career lows of 23 games (three starts), 19.7 minutes, 7.4 points, 2.2 assists and 38.8 percent shooting from the field. Dick is younger and healthier, but he needs to reverse the trend of his declining percentages from the field (41.9 percent) and from 3 (30.1).

Defensively, Dick has improved since he was a rookie, and he has good size for a guard. As a starter in 2024-25, he averaged 3.6 rebounds per game. But he would certainly be a defender to hide. Overall, Dick is a worthwhile flier who is making nearly $10 million less than Bogdanović would have made had the Clippers exercised the latter’s $16 million team option.

What’s missing?

The Clippers started the 2024-25 season without Leonard until Jan. 4 because of Leonard’s extended struggle with right knee inflammation. LA started 19-15 that season until Leonard returned, sporting the NBA’s 23rd-ranked offense and the fourth-ranked defense. Here was the nine-man rotation that got that Clippers team off to a survivable start, and the current 2026 offseason counterpart:

Besides asking Ingram and Garland to be the very best (and most durable) versions of themselves, the Clippers’ most glaring void is at center. The 2024-25 Clippers had Ivica Zubac, who wound up averaging more paint points (14.5) than every player in the league except Giannis Antetokounmpo, Zion Williamson and Nikola Jokić while being recognized as an all-league defender. Lopez, 38, hasn’t been a double-digit paint scorer since discovering his 3-pointer a decade ago, and he averaged just 2.8 paint points per game last season. While Lopez is still a strong rim protector, he shouldn’t be playing more than 20 minutes per game at this stage of his career, even as a starter.

Power forward John Collins likely being acquired by the Detroit Pistons via sign-and-trade also complicates matters for LA. While the Clippers were disappointed with Collins’ career-worst rebounding, he was the only qualified scorer in the league who made at least 55 percent of his shots from the field (min. 10 points per game) and shot 40 percent on 3s (min. 100 attempts). The Clippers also declined 37-year-old power forward Nicolas Batum’s team option.

The big question is going to be where — and how — the Clippers acquire frontcourt help. There is a glaring hole in the rotation for a 25-to-3- minute player. Even if restricted free agent Bennedict Mathurin is retained, the Clippers could access the $15 million non-taxpayer’s midlevel exception. The likely Collins sign-and-trade will net the Clippers a $17 million traded-player exception. LA could also withdraw Mathurin’s qualifying offer and access nearly $26 million in cap space, which is approximately what Collins made last season.

Another transaction looms. Whether it is acquiring Ingram’s former Pelicans teammate Trey Murphy III, Ingram’s former Los Angeles Lakers teammate Kyle Kuzma of the Bucks, Denver Nuggets restricted free agent Peyton Watson, Dallas Mavericks power forward P.J. Washington (after all the power forwards Dallas has already accumulated) or Lakers unrestricted free agent Rui Hachimura, something should materialize this month for the Clippers, who must seriously fortify their frontcourt. Whether that requires trading a player like Mathurin, Jones or Jackson bears watching. Entering the season with Lopez as the only reliable interior option would be irresponsible.

For now, the Clippers have the outline of a post-Leonard transition alliance in place, and it will be led by Ingram and Garland. It’s not hard to see how those two players help Lue build a competitive offense, but the defensive challenges are a concern.

All said, the Clippers must navigate complex waters to field a respectable team next season.