LOS ANGELES – The LA Clippers held Media Day on Monday, and were surprisingly transparent about the team's current injury situation. Brandon Ingram, newly acquired from the Toronto Raptors in the trade for Kawhi Leonard, has been in the gym working for several weeks, but has not been doing so at 100 percent health.
During Monday's press conference, interim President of Basketball Operations Trent Redden revealed that Ingram is still recovering from his offseason surgery.
Brandon Ingram missed the tail end of the Toronto Raptors' first round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers with a heel injury. Shortly after being eliminated in early May, Ingram underwent surgery to remove a feel spur to address the pain in his heel. According to Redden, however, the Raptors also found something else that wasn't announced.
“The surgery that you guys know about, he missed the end of the series with the Raptors,” Redden explained. “He had surgery on that right heel. We also found a partially torn Achilles during that time. Partially torn is much different than fully torn, so not as long. About six months less on the rehab schedule. But it wasn't until we got our hands on him here that we started to see where he was at with his progression. He won't be ready for the start of the season, and we'll re-evaluate when we get there.”
The initial wording of the statement led everyone to believe that the Clippers discovered it upon trading for him, but upon seeking clarification, Redden confirmed that it was the Raptors who discovered it during the heel surgery and repaired it at the same time.
“It was part of the surgery,” Redden said. “It was an all-in-one surgery.”
Another important note here, as Redden mentioned, is that Ingram only had a partially torn right Achilles tendon, not a fully torn one. With about a six-to-seven month recovery timetable and the surgery in May, that would place Ingram's return sometime in November or early December. Ingram will not be a full participant in training camp when the Clippers take to Hawaii and Vancouver, but is expected to slowly ramp up his work as the season nears.
Article Continues Below“My recovery has been going good,” Ingram said on Monday. “I feel good about the spot that I'm in right now, recovering form this surgery. I wont be participating in training camp much, but I'll be out there a little bit. I think it's a week by week thing, just trying to see when I'm going to be returning to play.”
When asked if he's started doing any kind of on-court work at all, Ingram nodded and firmly said, “yes.”
Brandon Ingram played 77 games last season, the most since his rookie season with the Lakers, and averaged 33.8 minutes a night while doing so. He played 325 more minutes last season than his previous high in 2016-17, so while he was healthy and consistently available last season, the injuries did appear to catch up to him late in the year.
Ingram was named an NBA All-Star last season, averaging 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 38.2 percent from three. Led by the two-time NBA All-Star, the Toronto Raptors put together a somewhat surprising 46-36 record.
The Clippers have three preseason games before tipping off their regular season on October 21st at home against the Sacramento Kings. While Ingram isn't expected to be ready for that game, he'll be hard at work behind the scenes and is expected to have his status updated around opening night.