The Clippers Traded for Brandon Ingram and Found a Partially Torn Achilles

The Clippers' main return for Kawhi Leonard won't be ready when the season starts. Brandon Ingram is recovering from surgery that fixed a right heel injury and a partially torn Achilles tendon, and he has no timetable.

The Achilles damage hadn't been made public before. Interim basketball boss Trent Redden said Monday that doctors found and repaired it during Ingram's heel surgery in May. "It wasn't until we got our hands on [Ingram] here that we started to see where he was at with his progression," Redden said.

There's some good news in that. Redden said a partial tear usually takes about six months less to recover from than a full one. Ingram called it "week-by-week" and said he'll do a little work in training camp.

"I had been dealing with some pain throughout the year with the Raptors and especially coming down in crunch time," he said. "I didn't quite know what it was." The heel kept him out of the last two games of Toronto's first-round loss to Cleveland.

When he's back, he's expected to lead the offense. The two-time All-Star averaged 21.5 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.7 assists last season, and Darius Garland is already planning around him: "I think our pick-and-roll will be the No. 1 thing we go to."

Ingram makes $40 million this season with a $41.9 million player option for 2027-28. The Clippers are also without Bradley Beal for the start of camp because of right knee inflammation, so this rebuild starts short-handed.