INGLEWOOD, CA — The LA Clippers have gotten off to a slow start to their season with just three wins in their first 10 games. After their fourth loss in a row on Saturday night, Tyronn Lue and the team made changes for Monday night's game against the Atlanta Hawks that are expected to continue as the season progresses.
John Collins, who has come off the bench for the first nine games of the season, started Monday's game and is expected to be the team's new starting power forward is a strong candidate to start Monday night's game against the Atlanta Hawks in place of Bradley Beal.
In addition to Collins now starting, Kris Dunn also started on Monday to try and give the Clippers the defensive edge they'd been missing.
“We've been struggling rebounding the basketball,” Tyronn Lue said. “And for his career, statistically, he's been a really good rebounder. So just putting him alongside [Ivica Zubac] to be able to rebound the basketball. We like his athleticism, like his energy, and we needed to be bigger. We were small with Brad, KD, DJ, and James, so we'll see how it looks tonight.”
And Collins starting won't just be a one-game thing.
“I'm going to roll with it for a while,” Lue added at the conclusion of his press conference.
Tyronn Lue, on the reasoning for John Collins starting (to @TomerAzarly) and if it’ll be long-term (to moi): “We’ve been struggling rebounding the basketball, and career, statistically, he’s been a really good rebounder. … I’m gonna roll with it for a while.” pic.twitter.com/J7ZDXqbzpi
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) November 11, 2025
The Clippers dropped their game against the Hawks, 105-102, despite holding a 17-point first quarter lead and multiple missed opportunities to tie or take the lead in the final minutes. Despite losing their fifth game in a row, they finally showed the necessary sparks to get out of their current rut.
James Harden recorded 35 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists, and two blocked shots in the Clippers' loss. Ivica Zubac added 13 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks in the loss, while Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn each scored 11 points with two steals, respectively.
The Hawks saw six players reach double-figure scoring, with reserve Vit Krejci recording a new career-high 28 points and eight made three-pointers.
The starting lineup change came as the Clippers have struggled defensively to start the season, boasting the sixth worst defensive rating in the NBA entering Monday's game, allowing 119 points per 100 possessions with a net rating of -5.4.
In 586 minutes across 46 games during the 2024-25 regular season, the four-man lineup of James Harden, Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., and Ivica Zubac posted a 113.7 offensive rating and a 104.5 defensive rating for a net rating of +9.2.
That lineup played primarily with Norman Powell to start the season, but was highly effective and a big reason for the Clippers hovering around the fifth and sixth seeds in the Western Conference before Kawhi Leonard's return against the Hawks on January 4, 2025.
Tyronn Lue said the goal of starting Dunn and Jones Jr. together was to start the game off better defensively.
“It's just to try to start the game with a defensive mindset with two of the best defenders in the league,” Lue added. “To start that way, and then we get KD out around the six minute mark and then just kind of go from there. But how our defense has been struggling, just thinking putting our best defenders on the floor to start the game is pretty important.”
Tyronn Lue, on the starting lineup tonight: “I thought they did a good job, especially defensively. … They did a great job of just trusting, moving the basketball, moving bodies, and then we didn’t so good with that in the second half.” pic.twitter.com/wrzZHVmk6S
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) November 11, 2025
Lue has always expressed his preference to play groups together over a roughly 10 game sample size, but the Clippers appeared to pull the plug on a few rotations just nine games into the season. Cam Christie and Kobe Brown both made surprising but welcome entrances to the rotation, something Lue said the team has been working on in practices and morning walkthroughs.
John Collins' role as a starter appears set, with the challenge now being to figure out how to bring the best out of him with the players he'll share the court with.
“We just [want to] get JC acclimated to playing with the starters and those guys understanding how to use him. I did like that little stretch for about a minute and a half when he played the five, so we've just got to continue working on that as well.”
Unfortunately, it also appears as though the Clippers may be without Bradley Beal for a period of time. The guard suffered a hip injury during a recent game against the Phoenix Suns and was ruled out prior to Monday's game.
The Clippers said Beal is undergoing evaluations to determine the severity of his hip injury, with updates to be provided when available.
“Yes, sir,” Tyronn Lue said twice when asked if there is concern regarding Beal's absence extending beyond a single game.
In six appearances thus far, Bradley Beal has averaged just 8.2 points and 1.7 assists per game while shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three. Moreover, the Clippers have struggled to get Beal acclimated defensively, which is where he's probably struggled the most.
The Clippers play their final home game for the next two weeks on Wednesday night, when the Denver Nuggets come to town. They'll then hit the road for seven games in 15 days, including a pair of back-to-back sets.
