NBA: 15 players looking to shed injury-prone label in 2017-18

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14. Patrick Beverley

No one’s quite sure who’s going to be the starting point guard in a backcourt that includes Patrick Beverley, Milos Teodosic and Austin Rivers, but with Chris Paul gone, it’s important that the Los Angeles Clippers have everyone available if they want to return to the playoffs in 2018.

Beverley typically isn’t pegged as being an injury-prone guy, but a look at his first five years in the league shows he consistently misses time with nagging injuries. For his career, he’s missed 41, 26, 26, 11 and 15 games each season, only topping the 70-game threshold once.

The Clippers are used to that sort of thing with CP3 and Blake Griffin, but the margin for error next season will be razor thin. Given Teodosic’s defensive flaws, Lob City needs Beverley — whose $5 million salary for 2018-19 is non-guaranteed — on the floor as often as possible to stay respectable on that end of the floor.