Austin Rivers is day-to-day with an Achilles tendon strain.

Rivers left Friday's game on crutches. 

The Clippers are 2.5 games out of the eighth seed in the Western Conference.

Rivers is averaging career highs of 15.8 points, 3.6 assists and 40.5 percent 3-point shooting over 32 games this season.

Blake Griffin could be back in the Los Angeles Clippers' lineup before the end of December.

Griffin has ramped up his rehab from a sprained medial collateral ligament injury to his left knee.

Griffin was initially expected to miss up to eight weeks when he suffered the injury on Nov. 27.

Griffin went through a variety of drills Tuesday with Clippers assistant coach Sam Cassell and Larry Abney, the team’s basketball operations assistant.

The Los Angeles Clippers had title aspirations once they acquired Chris Paul from New Orleans in December of 2011. Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan developed into All-Star talents with Paul, but they were rarely healthy at the same time in playoffs and also suffered some hard losses.

The era ended when Paul decided to orchestrate an opt-in and trade to the Rockets this past offseason.

“The vision that I had, I was going to win a title with Chris, Blake and D.J. and whoever else we had in that group. We obviously never got that done. My goals haven’t changed. I don’t coach for any other reason,” Doc Rivers told The Vertical. “Sometimes you change because you want to. Sometimes, it’s forced change. But at the end of the day, most of the time, change is good. Whether you want it or not. We’ve done a lot of winning, we just weren’t a winner. At some point, you’ve got to come to the realization with that group, you’re probably not going to be a winner. If you’re good enough, you better break through, because if you don’t do it, there are no guarantees in this game. Maybe we weren’t good enough.”

"There wasn’t a lot of joy. And not just me. I don’t think for anybody. I think it’s one of the reasons Chris left," said J.J. Redick. "That’s not a knock on anybody. I just didn’t feel like we had fun playing together. … I also think in that stretch of time, the league changed. The philosophy of the league changed. The way the Warriors played and even the way the Rockets played changed. By the end, I don’t know that we had enough firepower to knock those teams off. It’s math.”

Danilo Gallinari will be held out of further game action while recovering from an injury of his gluteus maximus.

Gallinari suffered a contusion to the left glute muscle, and subsequent imaging revealed a partial tear.

Gallinari and the Clippers' medical team will continue the rehabilitation process and intend to re-evaluate the injury in January. 
 
Gallinari, 29, has appeared in 11 games for the Clippers this season, and has averaged 13.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 31.8 minutes.

Danilo Gallinari just returned to the Los Angeles Clippers after 13 games out with a glute injury, but he suffered a new glute injury in his second game back.

"He's out for probably a good couple of games," said Doc Rivers.

"I guess he took a pretty hard fall in the fourth quarter," Rivers added of Gallinari. "I honestly never saw it, then I got a call after the game about it, and then you go and look, and it was a pretty good fall."

DeAndre Jordan waited more than two years to sign with an agent after his decision to leave Dan Fegan in 2015 when he backed out of a deal with the Dallas Mavericks to remain with the Los Angeles Clippers.

"He was deciding between Jeff [Schwartz] and Rich Paul," a person familiar with Jordan's thinking told Bleacher Report. "I had heard back then that he was 100 percent signing with Jeff."

Jordan finally hired Schwartz this month as he discusses an extension with the Clippers while also potentially being discussed in trades.

"He needs one," the person familiar with Jordan's thinking told B/R. "It's smart."

While negotiating a max contract is manageable without an agent, there are many issues that an agent can help facilitate in Jordan's circumstances.

"It's so hard to know otherwise what's going on," a person who advises several NBA stars told B/R. "I look at it like this: If you play for a team, is the team ever really going to tell you, 'We're trying to trade you?' How do you get a guy to buy in after that?"

The Milwaukee Bucks are one of the teams most interested in trading for Jordan. The Bucks have several ties to Schwartz, which could make dealing for Jordan an easier proposition. 

The Los Angeles Clippers are paying Jerry West an annual salary of $4 million to $5 million per year as a consultant.

West previously had a similar role with the Warriors while drawing one of the NBA's highest salaries for an executive. 

West was last general manager of a team with the Grizzlies.

The Clippers also added Michael Winger, Trent Redden and Mark Hughes to the front office in the offseason.

While the Los Angeles Clippers are listening to all incoming trade calls on DeAndre Jordan, they have yet to make any of their own.

The Clippers continue to have interest in extending Jordan or re-signing him in the offseason. The Clippers' price for Jordan remains high for this reason.

Jordan's spirits within the Clippers' locker room remains upbeat despite their struggles and injuries.

“We’ve got to stick with it and find a way to keep this ship afloat while these guys get healthy,” Jordan told USA TODAY Sports. “I’ll let (the front office) handle what they handle. That’s out of my control, so I’ll focus on what I can control. Like I said, I’m happy being here and you know, we’ll see what happens. If they come to me and they want to talk about (a possible trade), we can talk about it, you know? I don’t believe nothing in this league until it happens.”

Doc Rivers' job as head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers is likely safe for the entire season, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

The Clippers have had injuries to four out of their five opening night starters. Patrick Beverley is out for the season while Milos Teodosic has been out since the second game of the season. Danilo Gallinari has missed the past 13 games while Blake Griffin is out for at least two months with an MCL sprain.

Rivers has had his power on personnel decisions stripped over the past few months.

Rivers joined the Clippers in 2013.

DeAndre Jordan has hired Jeff Schwartz of Excel Sports Management as his new agent.

Jordan had been operating without an agent for the past two years.

With the Clippers discussing an extension with Jordan while also considering trade offers for him, the need for an agent became increasingly vital.

Jordan has a $24 million player option for 18-19 that he's likely to decline.

Jordan signed a four-year, $87 million contract with the Clippers in 2015.