As a kid, Rayan Rupert attended Nic Batum's basketball camp. As they face off on an NBA court, Batum says he has "become like my brother."

Batum (finger) has been cleared to play in Thursday's game against the Wizards, Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.com reports. Batum missed the first game of a back-to-back against the Celtics but will be available to play in the second leg Thursday against the visiting Wizards.

Washington aims to break its 18-game road losing streak with a victory over Los Angeles. The teams square off Thursday for the first time this season.

Out Wednesday

James Harden scored 40 points to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 127-117 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in their NBA game on Sunday. Norman Powell added 33 points, and Kawhi Leonard contributed 18. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 36 points and 13 rebounds,

Amid a grueling stretch of four games in five days, the Clippers chose to sit nearly all of their regulars for the Wednesday matchup with Boston at the Intuit Dome. LA ruled out the following seven players: James Harden (right groin soreness) Kawhi Leonard (right knee injury management) Norman Powell (back soreness) Ivica Zubac (left eye corneal abrasion) Kris Dunn (left knee soreness) Nicolas Batum (right finger soreness) P.

Norman Powell scored 22 points, James Harden had a double-double and the Los Angeles Clippers defeated LeBron James and the Los Angeles Lakers 116-102.

The Los Angeles Clippers hope to have something resembling a fully operational roster when they host the Washington Wizards on Thursday night at Inglewood, Calif.

The Clippers could be severely shorthanded when they face the Celtics with multiple rotation players listed on the injury report.

LOS ANGELES — The Celtics will be without three rotation players on Wednesday night as they face off against a shorthanded Clippers squad at the Intuit Dome.

The Clippers released their injury report for their game against the Bulls that included Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.

The Boston Celtics defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 117-113 in overtime. Both teams were shorthanded in this contest and Los Angeles nearly pulled off a shocking win.