Clippers’ Smith, Kimble May Be Out for Weeks

They are dropping like Clippers again, a notion made all the more frightening because it is still two weeks before opening night.

Chances are good Charles Smith and Bo Kimble, two key players, won’t be in uniform Nov. 1 at Sacramento.

A definitive answer on Smith should come today, when a second specialized X-ray should determine whether the pain and swelling in his right knee is caused by torn cartilage. According to team physician Tony Daly and trainer Keith Jones, symptoms indicate the starting power forward could require arthroscopic surgery and be out four to six weeks.

Smith has had chronic knee problems--mostly tendinitis--but last season the trouble was in his left leg. And no one is sure about the origin of this problem. He felt pain in the first days of camp at La Jolla, then more after Wednesday’s exhibition at Atlanta, prompting the X-rays.

There is no such uncertainty about Kimble, the back-up shooting guard who suffered a stress fracture in his left foot during the summer league at Loyola Marymount. He was scheduled to be in uniform around opening night, but the revised estimate is that he won’t even start jogging for two or three weeks.

“It’s a month, minimum, until he is up to full speed,” Jones said.

Smith and Kimble being out will create two roster spots, and if Doc Rivers’ holdout continues into November, three jobs are open.

Tony Brown, a swingman who has played with seven NBA teams and three in the Continental Basketball Assn., probably will get one, with Lanard Copeland and Rory Sparrow competing for the others.

Clipper Notes

The Clippers lost to the Golden State Warriors, 139-112, Friday night at the Sports Arena in the home exhibition opener. . . . Golden State Coach Don Nelson missed the game because of the death of a friend. . . . Clipper guard Gary Grant, who changed from uniform No. 23 to No. 1 last season, has switched back to 23. . . . Jay Edwards, the Clippers second-round pick from 1989, is in Rapid City, S.D., to play for the CBA Thrillers.