Ty Lue Announces Starting Lineup Decision Until the End of the Season

The Los Angeles Clippers built a one-game lead over the Portland Trail Blazers with a win over the Mavericks on Tuesday night. With three more games left in the season, the Clippers are inching towards clinching the No. 8 seed, which will give them a big advantage in the Play-In Tournament.

Before the final week of the season, head coach Ty Lue had made a starting lineup change: inserting Kriss Dunn and moving John Collins to the bench. After this paid dividends against the Kings on Sunday, Lue stuck with the same starting unit against Dallas. Following another strong performance from the unit and a second consecutive win, Lue announced that he is going to keep this starting lineup the rest of the season, per Clippers insider Joey Linn.

Ty Lue says Kris Dunn is staying in the starting lineup the rest of the season.
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) April 8, 2026

Clippers Sticking With Garland-Dunn-Jones-Leonard-Lopez Starting Lineup

The Darius Garland-Kris Dunn-Derrick Jones Jr.-Kawhi Leonard-Brook Lopez lineup has played 169 possessions together, per Cleaning the Glass. The Clippers have an incredible +23.6 net rating in those possessions, including a 129.0 offensive rating and a 105.4 defensive rating that would rank top of the league on both ends. This is obviously a small sample, and a lot of these possessions came late in the season against teams that have no interest in winning. So, it may be difficult to have sweeping takeaways from the sample, but it's clear that the Clippers have found something with this group.

It makes sense that this group would work well together. Leonard and Garland carry the shot creation and scoring burden, Jones and Dunn bring the defensive intensity, and Lopez protects the rim on one end while spacing the floor on the other. Jones, Dunn, and Lopez don't have to do much on offense except take and make open threes. Having both Dunn and Jones on the perimeter getting over screens allows Lopez to stay close to the basket on defense. It also lets Garland and Leonard conserve their energy on the offensive side of the ball.

Having Bennedict Mathurin and John Collins play on second units and hybrid lineups allows them to get more touches and scoring opportunities. It's not a coincidence that Collins has taken 31 shots in 52 minutes since moving to the bench two games ago.

Lue is known to be a flexible coach. If he feels like this lineup is no longer working, he will not hesitate to switch things up in the postseason. For now, however, it seems like he has found his optimal rotation. Whether this will help him clinch a playoff spot remains to be seen.