Injuries can derail a season with swift ease, and unfortunately, no team knows that better over the last couple of seasons than the LA Clippers. Finally back from their week-long training camp in the beautiful Hawaiian islands, the Clippers are already taking a very cautious approach when it comes to their new-look roster.

Ahead of Friday's practice in Playa Vista, the team's first since returning to Los Angeles, head coach Doc Rivers said the team is already dealing with a slew of injuries to some key rotational players, including starting small forward Danilo Gallinari with a sprained foot.

“Gallo's out for the next two practices & maybe the game as well,” said Rivers. “He did something to his foot, not serious, but we're gonna act like it's serious so we're just going to shut him down for a while.”

Danilo Gallinari Clippers Raptors
Marco Garcia / Associated Press

Gallinari played 27 minutes in the preseason opener against the Raptors on Sunday, scoring 17 points and grabbing three rebounds. He followed that up with an 11-point, 4-rebound outing in 24 minutes in the second game on Tuesday.

“Yeah, it happened in one of the two [games]. Gallo's been healthy outside of the hand injury.”

Aside from Gallinari, the Clippers are also dealing with injuries to Austin Rivers and Sam Dekker. Rivers fought a bout with mono earlier this summer, an illness that kept him off the court for four-to-five weeks. He returned to the court a few days before training camp, but suffered another injury in the exhibition.

“They're not going to practice today,: said Rivers. “Dekker's day to day, I think. He's out for at least the next game, and Austin's out for sure.

“Austin's had a tough summer, you know? You miss five weeks and you think you're going to play, but then you play for four days and you get injured again. So that one is probably the one we have to be the most cautious with. I mean, who knows, when you have mono, when it leads to something else because of exhaustion so it's a strange injury. We just have to monitor him and be careful.”

Dekker left Tuesday's game with what the team called a sore left rib, and coach Rivers said the team will also be cautious with his injury.

“Sam is dealing with the oblique. It's why I don't do sit ups,” joked Rivers. “You have to be very careful with it.”

The Clippers practice on Friday and Saturday before taking on the Portland Trail Blazers in a Sunday afternoon affair at Staples Center.