Clippers vs. Thunder Tuesday NBA injury report, odds: Paul George, Marcus Morris, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey all out

Both the Clippers and Thunder will be rather short-handed tonight when they meet in Oklahoma City. Los Angeles will be without All-Star Paul George as well as Marcus Morris, while OKC will be sans probably its two best players in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey. The Clippers are 9.5-point favorites at Caesars Sportsbook in the first meeting of the season between the clubs.

The All-Star George will sit with a non-COVID illness. The 32-year-old is averaging 23.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.7 assists. Morris will not play for personal reasons -- apparently his father passed away. Marcus' twin brother Markieff didn't play Monday for Brooklyn either. Marcus is third on the Clippers in scoring at 15.0 points per game. It's not clear who might replace those two in the starting lineup, although it's probably safe to say that Nicolas Batum will be one of them. Maybe Kawhi Leonard will get his first start. Norman Powell, Terence Mann, Luke Kennard and Robert Covington should all see more minutes.

Keep in mind that Los Angeles is still heavily monitoring the minutes of Leonard and John Wall after both missed last season. Wall hasn't played more than 25 minutes in a game yet and Leonard has played exactly 21 in both his games.

I don't want to accuse the Thunder of tanking already, but they definitely are one of the several teams making an effort to land Victor Wembanyama at the top of the 2023 NBA Draft. The team is saying Gilgeous-Alexander has a hip issue – he missed Saturday's 10-point home loss to Minnesota and Tre Mann started in his place -- and the Aussie Giddey has an ankle problem. Gilgeous-Alexander is among the NBA scoring leaders at 30.0 PPG, while Giddey is averaging 14.3 points, 8.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists.

Oklahoma City is one of four winless teams, along with the Lakers, Kings and Magic. 

The last meeting between the Clippers and Thunder was the 2022 regular-season finale in Los Angeles. The Clippers rolled to a 138-88 win. It was the largest margin of victory in franchise history. The Clippers were just the fourth NBA team last season to defeat a team by at least 50 points. These teams play again in OKC on Thursday. The Thunder are 25-25 vs. the Clippers during the Oklahoma City era, including 16-8 at home.

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