Add Keaton Wagler in deep leagues: the Clippers open without Ingram, Strus and Beal

Add Keaton Wagler if your league has 14 or more teams, or if you play points. Hold off in a standard 12-team categories league until you see his first two games. Here is why.

The Clippers open on Wednesday against Sacramento with five of the 18 players on their roster listed out: Brandon Ingram, Max Strus, Bradley Beal, Yanic Konan Niederhauser and Jordan Miller. Ingram has a partially torn Achilles and will miss the start of the season. Strus partly tore the plantar fascia in his right foot in the preseason opener, after five minutes on the floor, and was to be re-evaluated four weeks after the diagnosis. Beal did not play in the preseason and has no return date.

In the last preseason game, against Denver last Wednesday, Wagler started and played 28 minutes. He came off the bench in the first two.

Format: head-to-head categories, with a note for points leagues. Data: the Clippers' three preseason games (October 4, 10 and 14), the ESPN injury list on October 19, and 2025-26 season averages. Three preseason games is a tiny sample. I use it for minutes, not for skill.

The minutes that are open

Ingram played 33.8 minutes a game for Toronto last season, over 77 games. Strus played 24.0 a game for Cleveland, but only in 12 games. Those were other teams and other roles, so do not add them up and hand the total to one player. The point is simpler: two wings who would have played big minutes are out, and somebody has to play them.

The preseason tells you who the coaches tried first:

• Wagler: 30, 23 and 28 minutes. Started the final game.
• Cam Christie: 28 and 21 minutes, started the second game, did not play in the third.
• Baba Miller: 20, 16 and 21 minutes, all off the bench.
• Gradey Dick: 16, 13 and 19 minutes.

Darius Garland and Rui Hachimura started all three games. They are already on your roster if they are worth it.

Wagler's numbers, with the bad part included

Across the three games, Wagler scored 36 points in 81 minutes. That is 0.44 points a minute. He added 12 rebounds, nine assists, two steals, one block and one turnover.

The bad part is the shooting. He made 10 of 33 shots, 30.3%, and six of 24 threes, 25%. He did make 10 of 13 free throws. In the last game the shots fell better, four of nine and three of seven from three, but that is one game.

My minutes assumption is 28 a game, what he played as a starter. At 0.44 a minute, that is about 12 points a game, and about 37 over the Clippers' three games this week: Wednesday against Sacramento, Friday at the Lakers and Sunday at Oklahoma City.

If he goes back to the bench at 22 minutes, the number falls to about 10 a game and 29 for the week. That is still a usable line in a 14-team league. It is not one in a 10-team league.

Why categories managers should wait

In head-to-head categories, field goal percentage counts as much as points. A player who takes 11 shots a game at 30% does real damage to that category, and his threes at 25% are not making up for it. Two games of real minutes will tell you more than any preseason number. If the shots keep missing, he is a points and deep-league player only.

In points leagues the misses cost less, and the minutes are what you are buying. Add him now.

The other name: Baba Miller

Miller scored 34 points in 57 minutes, 0.60 a minute, with 15 rebounds, three steals and three of four from three. That is a better rate than Wagler's, and it came in bench minutes, often against other teams' benches.

At 18 minutes a game, the rate gives about 11 points. Put him on your watch list, not your roster. If he moves into the starting group, or past 24 minutes in the first week, add him.

What to do

• 14 teams or deeper, or points: add Wagler before Wednesday.
• 12-team categories: watch Wagler's first two games, then decide on the shooting.
• Watch list: Baba Miller. Move on him if his minutes climb.
• Drop: nobody yet. Beal's return date is open, so do not cut him for a rookie in a league with an injured spot.

This follows Wagler's late winner in the preseason opener, when he made two of his first 14 shots and still hit the go-ahead step-back. The check I would run next: the Clippers' starting five on Wednesday, and Wagler's shot count against his minutes after two games.

Update: Wagler scored 15 with three threes in the Clippers' 121-96 opener against Sacramento.

Update: three games in, the verdict is add him in 12-team categories. The free throws are why.