The Los Angeles Clippers have never been a franchise that anybody in the league considered prioritizing. They have been playing in the shadow of the other LA team, the far more successful Los Angeles Lakers. However, the Clippers are looking ready for a big season in 2022-23 with the return of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
The 2 Clippers stars are just as injury prone as their counterparts on the Lakers but have had a worse time managing injuries. Paul George has missed lots of time over the 3 years he has spent with the Clippers. Kawhi already load manages his games played in a season but he also is coming off a severe ACL tear he suffered in the 2021 playoffs.
With the injury proneness of their 2 stars and their tendency to sit out games when the schedule gets packed, the NBA ended up doing something historic. As the league schedule for next season was revealed, the Clippers had reason to rejoice as this will be the first season the team doesn’t have a congested fixture schedule that would see them play 5 games in 7 days, which would entail 2 back-to-backs and another game with just 2 days of rest.
Here are some things to know about the LA Clippers schedule in 2022-23.
First of all:
🚨NO 5-in-7s for the first time in franchise history. 🚨
That's going back to Knuckleheadz, the LA Memorial Sports Arena, San Diego, and the Buffalo Braves pic.twitter.com/RDFM4OcbgQ
— Law Murray ❓ (@LawMurrayTheNU) August 17, 2022
The league would hurt their own marketability if they gave the Clippers a congested schedule just for Kawhi and PG13 to sit out because of the congestion. The team has gone out and gotten wing depth to account for a situation where Kawhi and PG can’t be played and they need a similar archetype on the floor for team continuity.
The Clippers are extremely well-built and getting fair schedules like the kinds the Lakers have been getting will give them another advantage. While the team will have 15 back-to-backs in the season, it’s better than having to play 5 in 7 days.
