LOS ANGELES, CA – Ivica Zubac has been an iron man throughout his NBA career, but the Los Angeles Clippers center is going to miss some significant time for the first time in his career.
On Tuesday, the LA Clippers announced Ivica Zubac would miss at least the next four weeks with a right calf strain. It's unclear when the injury was suffered, but Zubac's last game was the Clippers' road win over the Memphis Grizzlies on January 12th.
Ivica Zubac will be OUT for the next 4 weeks with a right calf strain. He’ll be re-evaluated and his status determined from there.
Huge blow for the Clippers, who have a 222-138 record (.617) all time when their defensive anchor play.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 17, 2024
Ivica Zubac had appeared in all 38 games for the Clippers until Sunday's matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was initially listed as questionable for that game with right calf tightness and was cleared to play, but ended up being a last minute scratch. His name was even announced by the Wolves PA announcer during the starting lineup introductions, but Daniel Theis ultimately started the game.
So Daniel Theis started in place of Ivica Zubac, who was listed as questionable but then listed as a starter. https://t.co/XRZjGLHFwq
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 15, 2024
In his eighth NBA season, Ivica Zubac had been averaging 12.4 points, 9.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.4 blocks on 65.5 percent shooting from the field. The points, blocks, and field-goal percentage were all career highs for the Croatian big man.
Zubac had been relatively healthy throughout his career, and hadn't missed more than six games in a season due to injury prior to this right calf strain.
Four weeks from Sunday's road game against the Timberwolves, when he was initially ruled out, would be February 11th. The team has two games after that before the All-Star break, so there's a very real chance the Clippers don't see their starting center in action until the All-Star break.
Ivica Zubac has played in 360 out of a possible 372 games since joining the Clippers in February 2019. The Clippers have a 222-138 record in the 360 games Zubac has played for a .617 winning percentage.
The good news for the Clippers is that Mason Plumlee, who recently returned from a sprained left MCL sprain, is fully cleared and has been putting extra work into his conditioning work before and after games, as well as during shootarounds.
With Ivica Zubac expected to miss at least a month, Mason Plumlee is expected to start in his place.
Daniel Theis has found a good role for himself as the Clippers' backup big man, so it'll be interesting to see if Mason Plumlee takes over as the starting center to keep everyone in their similar roles.
More to come…
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