The Los Angeles Clippers are heading into the 2026-27 NBA regular season opener shorthanded — and Nevada alumni are caught right in the middle of it.
Both Kobe Sanders, a Wolf Pack product on the Clippers' roster, and Max Strus are listed among a half-dozen injured players as Los Angeles enters the final stretch of the preseason. Head coach Doc Rivers addressed the situation ahead of the team's preseason finale, confirming that Strus, Sanders, Brandon Ingram, Bradley Beal, Jordan Miller, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser are all dealing with ailments with the regular season just one week out.
That's a significant chunk of the rotation sidelined simultaneously, and for a Clippers squad with legitimate Western Conference aspirations, the timing couldn't be worse. For Nevada fans tracking alumni in the league, watching a Wolf Pack name appear on the injury report is a jarring reminder of how thin the margins are in the NBA — one bad preseason week can scramble a team's opening-night calculus entirely.
Sanders, a younger guard still working to establish himself at the NBA level, is Nevada's confirmed Wolf Pack alumni on the Clippers' active roster. Whether he will be available for the regular season opener remains to be seen.
Elsewhere in the league, Nevada's other active alumni are entering the new season healthy. Caleb Martin is with the Dallas Mavericks, Cody Martin suits up for the Indiana Pacers, and JaVale McGee is on the Sacramento Kings roster. None of the three surfaced in injury news during this period, meaning they're positioned to contribute from the jump when the season tips off.
The Clippers' situation bears watching as injury updates continue to roll out. If Sanders is cleared in time, Nevada can claim a contributor on a contending roster. If not, the Wolf Pack's most prominent NBA story this week is an unwelcome one: an alumni on the shelf before a single regular-season minute has been played.
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