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The Los Angeles Clippers placed Nic Batum in health and safety protocols before their afternoon contest against the Dallas Mavericks. Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the forward is expected to miss at least 10 days.
Sources: Clippers‘ Nicolas Batum is expected to miss at least 10 days due to health and safety protocols. Batum entered protocols and missed a win over Dallas today, which moved the Clippers to 10-7 on the season.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 21, 2021
Batum was picked up as a free agent before last season and has been the ideal glue guy for the Clippers. He provides some strong perimeter shooting and decision-making on offense. This season, the 32-year-old forward is averaging 9.8 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting 52.1 percent from the field and 43.8 percent from behind the three-point arc.
The Clippers were already without franchise cornerstone Kawhi Leonard and key contributor Marcus Morris before Batum's absence, so they are now in even more need of depth at the forward spot. Those injuries haven't forced the Clippers to slow down, though, as they're currently 10-7 with one of the best defensive units in the game. They rank second in defensive rating behind only the Golden State Warriors.
Los Angeles defeated the Mavericks, who were without franchise superstar Luka Doncic, behind Paul George‘s 29 points and Reggie Jackson's 23 points. Amir Coffey started in place of Batum. The Clippers have five games during the time frame that they'll miss their veteran forward, the first of which is a rematch with Dallas.
