NBA

Clippers Lose Max Strus to Plantar Fascia Tear, Out at Least Four Weeks

By Marcus | October 5, 2026

Shams Charania reports the Clippers guard suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot during Sunday's preseason game. He'll be reevaluated in four weeks.

The Clippers' wing rotation just took a hit before the season even starts.

Max Strus suffered a partial tear of the plantar fascia in his right foot during Sunday's preseason game, per Shams Charania via ESPN. He will be reevaluated in four weeks, which puts his earliest return in early November.

Plantar fascia injuries are tricky. They're painful, they linger, and they have a way of turning a four-week timeline into something longer. For a player whose game is built on movement and shooting, this is the wrong injury at the wrong time.

What Strus means to the Clippers

Strus is a proven playoff contributor. He carved out his reputation in Miami as a fearless shooter who wasn't afraid of big moments, then brought that to Cleveland before landing with the Clippers.

He's the kind of wing every contender needs: spaces the floor, competes defensively, and doesn't need the ball to be effective. Losing him for the first few weeks of the season thins out a rotation that was already counting on him for real minutes.

The ripple effect

Four weeks of reevaluation means Strus likely misses the first 8-10 games of the regular season at minimum. The Clippers will need someone to absorb those wing minutes in the meantime.

The bigger concern is whether this lingers. Plantar fascia tears don't always heal clean on schedule. If Strus isn't right when he's reevaluated, this could stretch deeper into November or beyond.

Betting angle

Early-season Clippers lines may not fully account for a missing rotation wing. If the market hasn't adjusted, there could be value fading the Clippers in spots where wing depth matters, especially against teams with strong perimeter attacks. Watch for updates as the reevaluation date approaches.

Via Shams Charania, ESPN