The Los Angeles Clippers sit fourth in the Western Conference with a 47-28 record. While expectations were high with the presence of Big 4, the excess amount of talent seemed to stump the team for a short period. Yet, they are the superstars of the NBA for a reason. With a little nudge here and a tweak there, the Clippers finally found a rhythm. But it seems like tonight’s eagerly anticipated clash between the Clippers and Nuggets will not have Kawhi Leonard.

Kawhi had missed the previous loss to the Kings because of a knee injury. According to the Clippers’ beat writer Tomer Azarly, Ty Lue had provided a vague answer. “We’re not gonna get into the details of it, but he’s gonna miss a couple games and we need to be ready to step up as he goes through his rehab process.”

A more recent update by Azarly says, “Tyronn Lue was asked a 2-part question, the 1st part was ‘would Kawhi Leonard play if this was a playoff game?’”. Lue answered the second part of the question, and when asked, ‘what about the first part of the question?’ Ty responded, ‘I didn’t answer it.’” Despite the ongoing injury concerns, this is the first season where LA’s received the best of Leonard since they signed him in 2019.

The results have been simply brilliant. The 2x champion is averaging some of his best numbers at 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game shooting 52.5% from the field and 41.7% from beyond the arc. Without Leonard, the LA Clippers haven’t proven themselves to be exactly self-sufficient, going 4-4 in his absence.

The team’s offensive rating with the 6’7 forward on-court is 121.1 while it drops drastically to 114.2 without him. And this is in a team that ranks third in offensive rating in the league! Not to mention the availability of enough players to pick up the slack. Sufficing to say that Kawhi Leonard is crucial to the team’s playoff aspirations.

So far, the 2x Finals MVP has missed just eight games in the season. And with Lue’s accidental admission, Kawhi is going to miss at the very least two more. Yet, the fact that the Clippers coach decided to keep mum about the tricky playoff question might lead to a reasonable assumption that it could have been a deciding factor. And who can blame him?

Injuries haven’t been kind to Kawhi Leonard

Since the 2016-17 season with the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard hasn’t gone past the 60 mark. While this season has seen many players who have been as injury-prone as the 6x All-Star, it’s hard to beat Leonard’s record. He missed at least 22 games every season until 2023-24. Not to mention, the partial tear in the ACL on his right knee caused him to miss a whole year. More specifically, the 2021-22 season.

Back in 2021, Leonard spoke about the mental anguish of being away for such a long period. He said, “I found ways to stay away and just take it one day at a time and make sure my knee was good for this year. I just tried to take it for what it was.”

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But this season was a welcome change. The 32-year-old embraced the injury-free year to the full and put his heart and soul out on the court. Hopefully, this latest absence isn’t too serious and with lethal scorers like James Harden in the squad too, they will hope that the Clippers can go all the way!

Fun Guy Kawhi Leonard Pokes Fun at Career-Threatning Injuries He Survived Amid Healthy Clippers Season