The Los Angeles Clippers have been without one of their stars all season.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will have to adjust to being without one of their own for now.

The teams will face off Monday night in Oklahoma City, with the Clippers still without Kawhi Leonard and the Thunder without Chet Holmgren.

Leonard has yet to play this season due to inflammation in his right knee. He will not travel with the Clippers on a three-game trip that begins with Monday’s game.

The game is the second of four meetings between the teams this season. Oklahoma City won the first meeting 105-92 in Los Angeles on November 2.

Holmgren played a key role in that game with 10 points and 14 rebounds. Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after that game that Holmgren’s abilities made the Thunder extremely difficult to defend.

But now Oklahoma City will be without Holmgren for at least eight to 10 weeks after he suffered a fractured pelvis in the first quarter of Sunday’s game against the Golden State Warriors. Holmgren fell hard on his right hip after trying to defend a layup near the rim. The team announced the injury as a right iliac wing fracture and said he is expected to return this season.

Holmgren is averaging 16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per game this season.

Oklahoma City trailed by 30 late in the third quarter in Sunday’s game before pulling within six before the Warriors won 127-116.

“This is a resilient, strong, competitive and adaptive team,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said, “and we will be no matter the circumstances.”

The Thunder may need to be even more adaptive.

Before Holmgren’s injury, Oklahoma City was already thin in the frontcourt, with Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams all injured. These three have not yet played this season.

“It’s kind of a next-man-up thing,” Oklahoma City’s Jalen Williams said. “I can’t stay too long.”

The Thunder’s defense, which has a league-best 100.3 points allowed per 100 possessions, will be hit the hardest without Holmgren.

“We all have to figure out how to get stops and rebound,” Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said.

The Clippers’ defense also ranks in the top five in the league, allowing 107.7 points per 100 possessions.

After dropping their first game to the Thunder, the Clippers fell to 2-4 on the season. But Los Angeles has won four straight games since then, including Saturday’s 105-103 home victory over Toronto.

During the four-game winning streak, Clippers center Ivica Zubac averaged 14.8 points and 12.3 rebounds.

“Zu was great,” Lue said. “The big man we’ve been playing a lot of minutes against, but he’s one of the most durable big men in the league, probably the most durable big man in the league.”

Zubac has played at least 68 games in each of the past four seasons.

The Clippers have lost six straight games in Oklahoma City. They have not won there since March 3, 2020.

The Thunder are 2-0 in the second game of a back-to-back this season.

–Field-level media