Progress is progress.

Serge Ibaka missed his 22nd consecutive game Friday with what’s been described as lower back tightness, and his absence will extend for at least the Clippers’ next two road games, although the team hasn’t set a timetable for his return, Coach Tyronn Lue said Friday before tipoff in Houston.

The veteran big man is making his way back, however, Lue said, employing his go-to descriptor for Ibaka’s status: “progressing.”

Within the previous couple of days, Lue said Ibaka was able to get on the floor and participate in “a little four-on-four.”

The veteran center has made a few fashionable appearances on the sideline at some of the Clippers’ home games lately, but he hasn’t played since March 14 in New Orleans, where he exited the game after only eight minutes.

“He’s progressing,” Lue said. “We’re not sure the timetable when he’ll be back, but that was his first time getting on the floor and actually doing some playing so that’s a good start.”

When he was sidelined, Ibaka was averaging 10.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game, and shooting 50.7% from the field and 35.2% from 3-point range in his first 39 games with the Clippers after signing a two-year, $19 million contract to team back up with Kawhi Leonard, his teammate on Toronto’s 2019 NBA title team, this past offseason.

In Ibaka’s absence, Ivica Zubac has played well since he joined the starting unit: In his past 21 games, the 7-footer is averaging 11.1 points, 8.2 rebounds and is shooting 54.4%. What’s more, the Clippers had a 5.1 net rating through March 14; their net rating since then is 10.0.

Lue said Friday there’s “there’s been thought” about keeping Zubac in the starting lineup, even when Ibaka does return.

For now, Ibaka isn’t with the team on the Clippers’ three-game trip, which continues Monday in New Orleans and concludes Wednesday night in Phoenix. Patrick Beverley (hand fracture) didn’t join the Clippers either.

Leonard is with the team, despite missing his fourth consecutive game Friday with a sore right foot. Rajon Rondo also is on the trip, though he missed his second consecutive game with right wrist inflammation. And Marcus Morris Sr. was a late scratch, the Clippers said he would miss the game under the designation of “rest.”

COUSINS RETURN

Without Ibaka, the Clippers surely also have appreciated having DeMarcus Cousins around; the tough-playing, 6-10 big man is in the midst of his second 10-day deal with the team.

When the season began, Cousins was on a non-guaranteed deal in Houston, where he was working to resuscitate his career after suffering a torn Achilles tendon, a torn quadriceps muscle and a torn ACL in recent years.

The 30-year-old center – a four-time All-Star – averaged 9.6 points and 7.6 rebounds and shot 37.6% from the floor in the 25 games he played for the Rockets, enough time, apparently, to determine that Cousins wasn’t the right fit for a squad that found itself in a reeling rebuild this season.

Houston waived him Feb. 23 – after opting to guarantee Cousins’ $2.3 million full-season salary before parting ways in an effort to reward his professionalism during his short tenure with the team.

“We wanted to make it right,” Rockets head coach Stephen Silas told reporters in February. “He came here on a non-guaranteed contract. Did what he was supposed to do. We rewarded him. We guaranteed his contract because he did those things, and we want what’s best for him, the ability to choose where he goes next.”

He landed in L.A., signing his first-10 contract on April 5. And since, he’s given the Clippers “flashes of vintage Boogie,” as All-Star Paul George described his contributions thus far, noting that, even though Cousins is cramming to learn the Clippers’ system, and even after the litany of injuries and a personally incongruous 2020-21 season, his natural playmaking and scoring abilities are apparent.

In his first seven games with the Clippers, Cousins averaged 5.6 points in 10.9 minutes per game, in addition to 4.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals per game.

“He’s meant a lot, I think coming in and filling that void of having a traditional 5-man, a post-up player on the block, alongside Zu while Serge has been out,” Lue said. “He’s been great, a great teammate. He’s come in, he’s given us a post presence, and seeing the double-teams, making the right play and the right pass. Last game, in a short amount of minutes he’s taken three charges, that was huge for us.

“So coming back to Houston, I’m sure he wants to play well. But we all got to play well ’cause it’s gonna be a tough game for us.”

Stephen Silas explains why the Rockets are releasing DeMarcus Cousins: We wanted to make it right. He came here on a non-guaranteed contract. Did what he was supposed to do. We rewarded him. We guaranteed his contract because he did those things, & we want what’s best for him…” pic.twitter.com/E6dOeN5PA9

— Adam Spolane (@AdamSpolane) February 23, 2021

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