Clippers Rookie Jawun Evans Will Get His First Career Start vs Hornets

Jawun Evans will fill in for Austin Rivers in tonight’s starting lineup against the Charlotte Hornets, joining Milos Teodosic, C.J. Williams, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan. Rivers is day-to-day with a sore right Achilles and will not play in tonight’s game.

It’s the first career start for Evans, who has played 16 minutes a game in 27 appearances so far in his rookie year, averaging 5.4 points, 1.9 assists, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.8 steals. He has particularly played well in the last couple of weeks, posting a 15-point, 6-rebound, 6-assists, 5-steal performance against the Washington Wizards and adding 15 points and 4 assists in a win over the Houston Rockets while guarding James Harden down the stretch.

Look for Lou Williams to continue to be heavily used off of the bench as one of the Clippers’ most reliable scorers, and expect rookie shooting guard Sindarius Thornwell to get some minutes off of the bench as well. With Evans getting a shot in the starting lineup, only three of the Clippers’ 16 players will have not started a game in the 2017 portion of the season: Brice Johnson, Sam Dekker, and Willie Reed.