LOS ANGELES — It’s hard to predict who might be in and who will be out for any given game for the Clippers this season, with the injuries, injury recovery periods and Nicolas Batum’s bout with COVD-19 that all have been thrown at Coach Tyronn Lue’s team.

But there appears to be one thing Clippers fans can just about bank on seeing: A steady diet of Ivica Zubac and Isaiah Hartenstein in the post.

And something they shouldn’t expect as much, at least for the time being: Serge Ibaka sightings.

Lue hasn’t had much insight to offer recently in response to questions about the 32-year-old center, who has been available but had not played in the Clippers’ two games prior to Monday night’s matchup against the Phoenix Suns.

The game before that, Ibaka played only when Hartenstein – the 23-year-old German-American center who is having a breakout season off the bench in L.A., averaging 7.2 points on 65.3% shooting and 4.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists entering Monday – got in foul trouble in Portland.

“Yes, he’s available,” Lue confirmed when asked about Ibaka before the Clippers’ victory over Orlando on Saturday.

Did something happen to take him out of rotation?

“No, ma’am.”

What have his conversations been like with the big man about his role?

“Keep that between us,” Lue said Monday. “But we’ve had conversations and that’s all about all I can go into.”

Ibaka missed most of his first season with the Clippers because of an ailing back and returned late in the regular season and played two playoff games but couldn’t go any further. The veteran, floor-spacing big man underwent back surgery on June 10 – a procedure that kept him out of competition for the Clippers’ first eight games this season.

“They had to clean up my disc because that’s where the nerves come in and out,” explained Ibaka – who opted into the $9.7 million second year of his contract with the Clippers this offseason – on media day in late September.

“That’s it. I think it wasn’t that bad, I just be dealing with the pain for so long for almost a year,” Ibaka said then. “That’s the hard part … I thought like if I just keep working, keep taking the baths, strengthening my core, I’m going to be fine, but it was not the case. I wish I could get surgery earlier, earlier during the season, but hey, things happen. Now I’m going to focus on it for the next season.”

But after he played limited minutes – and was limited, production-wise – in his first two games back from the injury, he asked Lue if he could ramp up in the G League. The Clippers’ coach liked the idea, so Ibaka checked in with the Agua Caliente Clippers for whom he averaged 15.5 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 27.3 minutes in a four-game stint.

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When Ibaka joined the big-league Clippers again, Lue experimented, plugging in Ibaka beside Hartenstein with the second unit for significant minutes in a couple of games and then starting him with Zubac in three games (those lineups both were plus-one in 48 and 22 minutes, respectively).

Since then, though, Ibaka had played only 7 minutes, 12 seconds.

“I think Zu, he’s been doing pretty good job, but Isaiah’s been really good,” Lue did say Monday, indicating that the decision to reduce Ibaka’s playing time has more to do with what Hartenstein is doing than with what Ibaka is not.

“Especially with that second unit, not having guys who can create shots from that second unit, Isaiah pretty much becomes our point guard and so we kind of run our offense through him. He makes great passes, and just I think we need him with that second unit – so he’s been great.”