Sprained finger sidelines Davis

The room for experimentation in the Clippers’ preseason lab expanded a bit more when point guard Baron Davis sprained the ring finger on his left hand at practice Friday.

Davis will sit out both of the Clippers’ preseason games this weekend at Staples Center, starting with this afternoon’s game against Toronto. The finger was not broken, according to X-rays.

But an MRI exam was inconclusive and Davis will be reevaluated Monday. He already has sat out the last two games because of flu. The regular season opens Oct. 29 against the Lakers.

Rookie No. 3

That would be entertaining center DeAndre Jordan, who has been nicely ahead of schedule, according to Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy.

He drew more than a few smiles and verbal jabs from his teammates at the first exhibition game last week in Fresno when he picked up his first technical foul after he dunked over the Lakers’ Chris Mihm and let out a scream.

No, the scream could not be heard in Bakersfield.

“Yeah, over-excitement,” Jordan said Friday. “I wasn’t taunting anybody. That’s not my personality. I don’t want to make fun of somebody like that. I was just excited.

“People scream all the time during the game. But when I screamed, I was facing the guy. So they gave it to me.”

Lesson learned, apparently.

“I mean, I should have turned the other way,” Jordan said.

That Jordan would end up in Los Angeles was largely unexpected.

Once projected as a potential lottery pick before his freshman season at Texas A&M;, Jordan’s stock went into a free fall in the weeks leading up to the draft and the Clippers grabbed him at 35.

There is an object still on his shoulder.

“Always,” Jordan said. “I’m definitely going to have a chip on my shoulder no matter what, seeing what happened at the draft. It wasn’t a bad day for me because somebody believed in me enough to pick me up.

“I’m always going to have a chip on my shoulder. That’s just a bigger source of motivation for me.”

Balance comes from his family back home in Houston.

“Some people will be like, ‘You played great, yada, yada, yada.’ They won’t ever tell you what you did wrong,” Jordan said. “They will tell me what I did right and also let me know what I did wrong. My mom will be like, ‘You played great . . . but . . . ‘ “

So what exactly did mom Kimberly Jordan, a former basketball player, say to her son?

“You need to be more active,” DeAndre Jordan said, quoting his mother. “When you roll off the screen, I want you to roll hard. When I used to play basketball, and I rolled . . . I used to score a lot.”

Yes, everyone is an NBA critic . . . even mothers.

Roster move

The Clippers’ roster stands at 15 after the team waived forward Curtis Sumpter on Friday. Sumpter, formerly of Villanova, had signed shortly before training camp. He appeared in two exhibition games, logging minimal time.

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com