Max Strus had barely laced up his Clippers uniform before the season unraveled on him.
The DePaul product suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot during Los Angeles' preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday, Oct. 4, exiting in the first quarter after being spotted limping before a timeout. The Clippers confirmed the diagnosis shortly after, with Strus set to be re-evaluated in four weeks — a timeline that rules him out for the start of the 2026-27 regular season.
The injury lands at the worst possible moment. Strus arrived in Los Angeles as a newly acquired piece expected to provide perimeter shooting and versatility for a Clippers roster already navigating significant health concerns. Brandon Ingram — the team's top returning option — was already slated to miss the season's opening stretch, and Los Angeles was already carrying four rotation players on the shelf before Strus went down. The foot injury adds a fifth name to what has become a genuinely alarming list before a regular-season game has been played.
For DePaul fans, it's a tough watch. Strus, 30, built his NBA career the hard way — undrafted out of DePaul in 2019, bouncing through the G League before carving out a real role with the Miami Heat and then landing a significant contract. He's the kind of alumnus the Blue Demon faithful point to as proof of the program's NBA ceiling. Seeing him hobble off in a preseason game in Hawaii before he could play a meaningful minute for his new team is a gut punch.
The silver lining, if there is one, is that a plantar fascia partial tear — rather than a complete rupture — carries a more manageable recovery window. A four-week re-evaluation suggests the Clippers are cautiously optimistic about keeping his absence measured in weeks rather than months. Still, plantar fascia injuries are notoriously unpredictable, and a player returning too soon risks compounding the damage.
In the meantime, the Clippers' already thin perimeter depth will be tested from night one, with younger options like Gradey Dick potentially stepping into expanded roles to compensate. For Strus, the focus now shifts entirely to getting healthy — and finding a way to make his Clippers debut count once he does.
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