Where would the Clippers be without Reggie Jackson?

Where’d they be without Nico Batum?

Where might they go with Robert Covington?

Like his two new teammates have before, Covington went on the record after the Clippers’ win Thursday in Houston to say he’d come close to quitting basketball.

Professional basketball, with its mostly unspoken outsized pressures, can chew a person up. It gnashed Covington good a few seasons ago, he said, leaving the Clippers’ new muck-it-up guy feeling “like the guy on ‘Get Out,’ Chris. I was in that sunken place.”

Following candid comments before practice last week on the mental ordeal of having to move teams (his trade from Portland to the Clippers was the fourth midseason deal in which he’s been included in five seasons), Covington spoke openly Tuesday night to reporters on the scene in Houston and absorbing his words over Zoom.

He talked about experiencing depression and how, with work, he’s been able to recalibrate his perspective so that he – not unlike Jackson – is leaning into the positive aspects of his work, the fun of the game.

“I like to keep people and those spirits high because I’ve been at a point where I’ve been frustrated and overwhelmed, and that (stuff) takes a toll on, that just takes a toll on – it takes a toll on you mentally,” Covington said, on Zoom. “And at one point, I was ready to walk away from this game just because of all the things I had going on in my head mentally, so I’ve really did a lot of groundwork within myself to really find out and just have fun with it again.

“No matter what goes on throughout the game, it’s just having fun. I do that, and when guys get down on themselves, be there to speak positivity to them and just doing the little things of that nature. Like I said, stuff that doesn’t go on in the stat sheet or it doesn’t get seen, but them guys know that no matter what, I always got their back. And that’s with everyone.”

Covington, it seems, has verve in reserve, including for the referee who Tuesday got a rueful grin from “Cov,” as his teammates call him, after whistling a foul when the player was sure there had been a block.

Including the fans – such as those seated courtside at Crypto.com, whose beverages RoCo saved by popping off the bench and flying to intercept the full-court buzzer fling that was on a collision course with them. Including the man who popped The Question during a timeout, asking his girlfriend to marry him before an audience of thousands – and a rapt Covington, who watched intently from a few feet away and led the applause when she said yes.

Covington said he felt much more alone three years ago, when he missed a career-high 44 games nursing a frustrating knee injury, when he said he isolated himself, alone except for the company of his dog. “He knew something was wrong, because he never left my side,” said of his beloved Cane Corso

“That was a tough time for me,” Covington recalled Tuesday, after turning another spirited effort, with seven points, eight rebounds, four credited blocks and probably another 100 contributions that evaded the stat sheet. “I spent a lot of time alone, solitude and just mentally out of it in a lot of different ways. My family would ask me if I’m OK and different natures, but I really wasn’t.”

Minnesota’s then-coach Ryan Saunders, who had seen a therapist after the death of his father Flip, encouraged Covington do the same.

“My coach at that time, Ryan Saunders, really helped me in a lot of ways. And then just going to, seeing and talking to a couple people is what really helped me get out of that. And then I was given professional ways to help get, keep myself out of them spaces, and, like I said, I’ve been applying that to my life since then.

“I still have them conversations with people and, like I said, it’s just about uplifting and doing the little things. Spreading and bringing that energy that I’ve found within myself and pouring it into others. And just doing that, it changes the game, it changes peoples’ energy and the way they play in the game. It’s just about doing little things of that nature. It’s what I’m all about. I’m all about doing the little things, stuff that people don’t talk about too much.”

Covington said he expected he’d have a good talk about it all sometime with Jackson, who wept when last season ended, so grateful to have participated in the Clippers’ historic playoff run. Just months after he thought he might hang ’em up for good, Jackson was rocking mismatched sneakers and having a rollicking good time, and earning the moniker “Mr. June” with his sensational postseason scoring binge.

And Batum – whose versatility and professionalism were so integral to the Clippers’ success last season, just a year after said he thought his career might be over when he was shelved in Charlotte – saw Covington’s comments relayed on Twitter and responded immediately.

The French forward pushed send on a quote-tweet directed at Covington: “I’ve been there brother, glad you on the team and you didn’t give up .”

Replied Covington: “Appreciate that my guy and I’m glad you ain’t give up either brodie. Now let’s continue to work and push forward.”

Appreciate that my guy and I’m glad you ain’t give up either brodie. Now let’s continue to work and push forward

— Robert Covington (@Holla_At_Rob33) March 2, 2022

LAKERS ON TAP AGAIN

The 33-31 Clippers, winners of four consecutive games, will face the Lakers (27-34) for the fourth and final time this regular season Thursday, when Tyronn Lue’s team will try to sweep the season series and maintain its grasp on the eighth seed in the Western Conference standings.

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Lue was close to becoming the Lakers coach before contract negotiations stalled in May 2019. Since he became the Clippers’ head coach last season, they have not lost to the Lakers, taking a record of 7-0 into Thursday’s contest.

The Lakers – who Tuesday signed Wenyen Gabriel, who contributed this season for the Clippers as a 10-day hardship signee – have lost three consecutive games and seven of their past nine, with two of those defeats coming to the Clippers.