The Clippers play in Toronto nine days after sending Kawhi Leonard back to the Raptors for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and five draft picks, closing one of the stranger loops in franchise history. The result carries no standings weight, with both teams still 0-0, but it lands on a team that has swapped cities, owners and leading scorers before.
Ownership turmoil is not new to this franchise.
Donald Sterling's tenure brought a $10,000 league fine, unpaid bills and an NBA push to strip his ownership before he moved the team to Los Angeles without approval in 1984, a move that drew a $25 million fine later cut to $6 million. Steve Ballmer is serving his own league discipline now, a one-year suspension tied to the ruling on the Clippers' Aspiration dealings, with John Gibson running the club as interim governor and CEO and Trent Redden as interim head of basketball operations.
The franchise has always needed one player to carry the scoring load.
Bob McAdoo won three straight scoring titles and the 1974-75 MVP award in Buffalo, the high point of the franchise's earliest years. Ingram, acquired for Leonard and Gradey Dick plus five picks in the September 14 trade, arrived to fill a similar job; an Achilles injury instead keeps him off the floor in Toronto, with the current return target set at November 1.
The Finals drought still defines the larger goal.
Six straight playoff trips with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul from 2012 to 2017 never got past the conference semifinals, and the Clippers remain the oldest NBA franchise without a trip to the championship round. The Aspiration penalties cost this roster its 2029 and 2030 first-rounders outright, on top of swap rights in 2027, 2028 and 2030, a narrower path to ending that drought than the Lob City core ever had.
This date on the calendar has swung both ways.
On October 10, 1980, the Clippers beat Houston 120-104; on the same date in 1972, as the Buffalo Braves, they lost to Atlanta 109-120. Neither result moves the record tonight, but the swing captures a franchise still waiting to see which way this rebuild goes, with Ingram out and the regular-season opener on October 21 against the Kings now eleven days away.
Why are the Clippers playing the Raptors in Toronto?
It's a preseason game on October 10, 2026, with both teams still 0-0 ahead of the regular season.
When is Brandon Ingram expected back?
Ingram is out with an Achilles injury, and the current return target is November 1, 2026.
