As Houston Texans general manager Nick Caserio rallied around him and the team made a change at quarterbacks coach, C.J Stroud was back in Southern California taking in a Los Angeles Clippers game Thursday night.
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The Texans quarterback sat courtside with Carolina Panthers quarterback and close friend Bryce Young as Anthony Edwards led the Minnesota Timberwolves past the Clippers. Stroud and Young stuck around after the game and chatted on the court with Edwards and the Clippers’ Darius Garland.
Stroud, who cut his hair after his playoff loss to the New England Patriots, is a big NBA fan, sitting courtside at several Houston Rockets games, but he’s a diehard Lakers fan, having grown up in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., about 45 miles east of Los Angeles.
(From left) Darius Garland, C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young and Anthony Edwards pose for a photo following a basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Minnesota Timberwolves at Intuit Dome on February 26, 2026 in Inglewood, California. (Allen Berezovsky/Getty Images)
Young also is a Southern California native and the two quarterbacks have known each other since middle school when they both played in Snoop Dogg’s youth football league.
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Young and Stroud went on to be the first two picks in the 2023 NFL draft with Stroud experiencing more success in the league by making the playoffs in each of his three seasons while Young made the playoffs for the first time this year.
It’s been a busy week for Stroud. On Sunday, his mother Kimberly Stroud and the C.J. Stroud Foundation were honored at the Global Humanitarian Awards in Houston and the quarterback gave a stirring speech about suffering. On Tuesday, Caserio met with reporters at the NFL combine and dismissed any talk of the team considering trading their quarterback as “moronic.” On Thursday, the Texans parted ways with Jerrod Johnson, who has been Stroud’s quarterbacks coach with the Texans since Stroud entered the league.
This article originally published at Texans’ C.J. Stroud sits courtside with Panthers’ Bryce Young at Los Angeles Clippers game.