Ivica Zubac to return vs. Celtics one week ahead of schedule

INGLEWOOD, CA — The LA Clippers have won six straight games, equaling their win total from nearly the first two months of the season. They’ve done most of this damage while severely shorthanded, but help in the form of Ivica Zubac appears to be on the way.

The 7-foot center out of Croatia is set to return to the Clippers lineup on Saturday night when the team hosts the visiting Boston Celtics at Intuit Dome. It marks a speedy recovery for the big man, who was expected to be out for some time.

Zubac suffered a sprained ankle in the first quarter of the Clippers home win against the LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers on December 20th. The center hobbled off the floor and was quickly ruled out for the remainder of the game.

Ivica Zubac appeared to sprain his ankle and went down immediately grabbing at it.

Zu was then helped up by Brook Lopez and Lakers’ Luka Doncic before hobbling back to the Clippers locker room. pic.twitter.com/88RLBQ2pBw

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 21, 2025

The following day, the Clippers announced that Zubac had been diagnosed with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain and would be re-evaluated in three weeks. That meant the Clippers center would be shelved until at least the Clippers home game against the Charlotte Hornets on January 12th.

Ivica Zubac has suffered a Grade 2 left ankle sprain per the LA Clippers and will be re-evaluated in 3 weeks.

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 21, 2025

But the Clippers announced that Ivica Zubac had progressed to on-court activities on Thursday night before the team took on the Utah Jazz. And then they announced he’d be returning to play on the day of the two-week mark of his injury.

While the Clippers have desperately needed their defensive anchor back, it’ll be interesting to see how they incorporate him into a team and rotation that clearly has found its groove over the last two weeks. Without Zubac, the Clippers have unexpectedly won six consecutive games over a 13 day span, equaling the six wins they had in the first 59 days of the 2025-26 regular season.

Brook Lopez has been the starting center in Zubac’s place and has had a couple of strong performances on both ends of the floor, including a 31-point and career-high nine three-pointer game against the Portland Trail Blazers. He’s also totaled nine blocks in the games Zubac has missed thus far.

Backup center Yanic Konan Niederhauser has also entered the rotation and been improving with each game. He scored a career-high 16 points to go along with six rebounds against the Sacramento Kings. He then followed that up with a career-high 10 rebounds against the Utah Jazz.

In 28 games this season, Ivica Zubac has averaged 15.6 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 block per game while shooting 60.9 percent from the field and 71.3 percent from the free throw line.

The Clippers will host the Celtics on Saturday night at 7:30PM PST.

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