{"id":209740,"date":"2025-10-08T18:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209740\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T18:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T18:48:09","slug":"nbas-clippers-open-exhibition-season-in-oceanside-vs-chinese-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/209740\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA’s Clippers open exhibition season in Oceanside vs. Chinese team"},"content":{"rendered":"

NBA preseason basketball returns to Oceanside on Thursday, when the Los Angeles Clippers open their exhibition season against China\u2019s Guangzhou Loong Lions at Frontwave Arena. The game tips off at 7:30 p.m. from the G League San Diego Clippers\u2019 home arena.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s everything you need to know about Thursday\u2019s game:<\/p>\n

Welcome back: This marks the second straight season that the NBA\u2019s Clippers have ventured south to play a preseason game in Oceanside, home of their minor-league club. They helped christen Frontwave last October with a 115-106 win over the Brooklyn Nets. The game featured an appearance by former San Diego State star Kawhi Leonard, though he did not suit up.<\/p>\n

About the Loong Lions: Known in English as the hyphenated \u201cLong-Lions,\u201d Guangzhou plays in the Chinese Basketball Association\u2019s Southern Division. The team features multiple American-born players. Former University of Wisconsin star Frank Kaminsky led the Long-Lions with 22 points and seven rebounds in Monday\u2019s exhibition opener against the San Antonio Spurs. Victor Oladipo, an 11-year NBA veteran, also started for the Long-Lions; another longtime NBA-er, Justin Holliday, came off the bench in the 119-88 loss in San Antonio.\u00a0 The team will wrap its three-game NBA tour next week with a game against the Timberwolves in Minnesota.<\/p>\n

About the Clippers: While their offseason was marred by reports that owner Steve Ballmer skirted salary cap rules to pay Leonard more money<\/a>, something Ballmer denies, there\u2019s more to like with this year\u2019s Clippers than in recent seasons. James Harden is back on a two-year, $81.5 million contract. He\u2019s joined by Leonard, who averaged 21.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 3.1 assists per game during an injury-shortened 2024-25 season. Chris Paul is back for his second stint with the club, while Bradley Beal will try to resurrect a career that bottomed out in Phoenix. Reserves Brook Lopez and Nicolas Batum have a combined 34 years of NBA experience, while Paul has 20 on his own and Harden has 16.<\/p>\n

San Diego ties: Leonard played at San Diego State, as did Clippers assistant coach Jeremy Castleberry. Clippers rookie Kobe Sanders attended Christian High School. Jordan Miller, who was the G League Clippers\u2019 second-leading scorer last year with 24.5 points per game, is on the NBA club\u2019s training camp roster; so are 2024-25 San Diego Clippers standouts Patrick Baldwin Jr. (18.4 ppg) and Cam Christie (18.2 ppg).<\/p>\n

A good week: This marks the NBA exhibition played in San Diego County in less than a week. The Minnesota Timberwolves beat the Denver Nuggets 126-116 on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd of 12,096 at Pechanga Arena. Denver spent five days training in San Diego before the game.<\/p>\n

Up next in Oceanside: The G League\u2019s San Diego Clippers open their season Nov. 8 against the Stockton Kings, with their home opener set for Nov. 14 against the Salt Lake City Stars.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Clippers vs. Guangzhou Loong Lions (exhibition)<\/p>\n

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday<\/p>\n

Where: Frontwave Arena<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NBA preseason basketball returns to Oceanside on Thursday, when the Los Angeles Clippers open their exhibition season against…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":209741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[2558,355,99],"class_list":["post-209740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-latest-headlines","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=209740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/209741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}