Kaman Hid Pain in Calf

A rookie mistake?

The Clippers are awaiting the results from tests taken Monday on first-year center Chris Kaman’s lower left leg, procedures that Coach Mike Dunleavy indicated might not have been necessary if Kaman had been more forthcoming.

The first-round draft pick from Central Michigan has been bothered by pain in his left calf for weeks but continued to practice, apparently without complaint.

“It’s great in one regard,” Dunleavy said of the 7-footer’s willingness to play through the pain. “It’s good to be tough, but make sure you put people on notice if something is bothering you. I would have had no clue.

“In Palm Springs [at training camp two weeks ago], for him to do the running the way he did the running, with his calf to be bothering him like it was, was stupid. It’s good to send that message [that you’re tough].... But after that, it’s kind of like, ‘I hope you didn’t do any more damage to it.’

“You want to take a few precautions. You want to be smart about what injuries you play through and what injuries you don’t play through. The ones you play through that can get worse, you need some medical advice as far as what you should do.”

Kaman, who has been practicing with a red sleeve on his left calf, apparently tired of the pain. “So we said, ‘Let’s get X-rays,’ ” Dunleavy said.

Busy elsewhere undergoing tests, Kaman did not practice Monday.

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Even if Kaman is OK, the Clippers will be short-handed tonight when they play the Dallas Mavericks in an exhibition game at Staples Center.

The club’s two Serbs, center Predrag Drobnjak and point guard Marko Jaric, were scheduled to fly to Tucson this afternoon en route to a Wednesday appointment in Nogales, Mexico, to attend to visa matters.

They are expected to rejoin the team before Thursday’s game.

Also, forward Tremaine Fowlkes will sit out for the second consecutive game because of a sprained right knee. Fowlkes, facing an increasingly uphill battle to make the roster, has not practiced since Thursday.

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The newest Clipper, Glen Rice, said he has lost 27 pounds from last season, but the former Laker said he hasn’t lost his shooting touch.

“Let me tell you,” he said, asked about his textbook stroke, “losing those pounds, you’re able to get up on the shot a lot better, explode a little bit more. And in doing so, the confidence keeps soaring. It’s feeling real good right now.”

Dunleavy said Sunday after Rice’s first practice with the Clippers that he probably would not play the 6-foot-8 swingman tonight.

Monday, he was undecided.