INGLEWOOD — Rui Hachimura has seen the Clippers’ defensive tandem of Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. enough to know one thing. He doesn’t want to see them on the opposite side of the court again.
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The 6-foot-8 forward prefers having the menacing duo on his side, playing for the same team.
“They have quick hands so they can steal the balls, they can deflect the ball,” Hachimura said after Tuesday’s practice. “It doesn’t show on the stats, but I see a lot of things that they do on the court. And of course they have good offense, they can catch and shoot and they’re athletic, very athletic. They can move a lot.”
Hachimura, who played the previous three seasons with the Lakers, joined forces with Dunn and Jones this summer, signing a free agent contract with the Clippers. And he’s thrilled to be in the same gym with them.
Dunn had 293 deflections and 129 steals last season, the fifth-best and fourth-best totals in the NBA, while Jones, best known for his high-flying dunks, had 50 blocked shots and 45 steals in 2025-26.
“I was playing against them before, so it’s annoying,” Hachimura said. “They’re trying to disrupt the offense; you don’t know what they’re going to do.
“Sometimes (they are) trying to steal the ball or they’re trying to defect the ball, the little stuff for the team.”
While the Clippers have many new faces who have skills on both ends of the court, Dunn and Jones will once again be looked to for their defensive craftiness.
“That’s been me and Kris’ job since we came here,” Jones said. “That’s just always been our job just to always be the head of the snake defensively. So, we’re going to keep that job running.”
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that while Dunn and Jones will continue to be the focus of their defense, the Clippers need to involve more players, especially without Kawhi Leonard, a seven-time All-Defensive Team player.
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Leonard was officially traded to the Toronto Raptors in September after the teams agreed to pause the June agreement until the NBA concluded its investigation into the Clippers for salary cap rule violations.
“We got to just do it by committee,” Lue said. “I think changing our coverages, being aggressive and blitzing a little bit more to try to force and create turnovers.
“It’s not going to be just those two guys. We all got to do it collectively, but they got to take on the challenge every night of guarding the best players.”
COUNTDOWN TO THE OPENER
The Clippers close out their three-game preseason slate against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at the Intuit Dome, with just that game and a handful of practices left to figure out lineups and rotations before their season opener on Oct. 21 against the Sacramento Kings.
The Clippers are currently without five key players – Brandon Ingram (Achilles), Bradley Beal (knee), Max Strus (foot), Kobe Sanders (hip) and Jordan Miller (shoulder) – which is nothing new for Lue.
“It’s hard, yeah, but it is what it is. We’ve been through this a lot of times and you never want to see guys out or injured, but the guys that we have that have been playing, that have gone through training camp, they’ve gotten better,” Lue said. “I think we put a lot of stuff in early to see what works and what we got to scrap and get rid of. So, we’ve been doing a lot of stuff just kind of to see what works for this team, the team that we have on the floor right now.”
FAN FAVORITE WAIVED
Japanese standout Yuki Kawamura, who at 5-7 is the shortest player in the NBA, was waived by the Clippers on Monday, two days after a solid showing against the Raptors.
Kawamura, who signed a non guaranteed Exhibit 10 contract in August, had10 points on 3-of-4 shooting, four assists, and two steals in 14 minutes late in the game.
The Clippers announced Tuesday that they filled the roster spot with Fletcher Loyer, who had been waived on Oct. 6.
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NUGGETS AT CLIPPERS
When: Wednesday, 7:30 p.m.
Where: Intuit Dome
TV/Radio: KTLA (Ch. 5), 1150 AM