Kawhi Leonard is expected to make his season debut for the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday when they host the Atlanta Hawks. according to NBA expert Chris Haynes. The team upgraded him to questionable Friday night.
Leonard, who has been suffering inflammation in your right kneehas been playing 5-on-5 with full contact in practice since December 18but the Clippers wanted to see him do more scrimmages before bringing him back, coach Tyronn Lue told reporters.
three months agoTeam president Lawrence Frank said that while the swelling in Leonard’s knee was almost gone, they wanted to be cautious. Last season, Leonard played in 68 of the Clippes’ first 74 games, then missed the final eight due to inflammation in his knee. He attempted to return during their first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, but his knee did not respond as well as they had hoped. This time they wanted to make sure he didn’t end up in a similar situation.
“I know he doesn’t really like playing 5-on-5 outside of games, but this is very important for the medical staff, for Lawrence and also for our group,” Lue said. “Just making sure he’s doing the right amount of reps, making sure he’s doing everything he can to make sure this doesn’t happen again, so we can monitor the fluid and see how it’s working. So far, it’s been really good, and I just want to keep progressing.”
If Leonard returns Saturday, he will have missed the Clippers’ first 34 games of the season. The Clippers have gone 19-15 (tied in the loss column with the No. 6 Mavericks) without Leonard thanks in large part to their top-five defense.
Their offense, however, ranks in the bottom 10. James Harden’s usage rate is the highest since 2019-20, but he has told reporters that he is not worried about his role changing when Leonard returns.
“It’s funny, Kawhi and I talked about that a little bit today on the bench,” Harden said after the Clippers’ 102-92 win against the Golden State Warriors. via Tomer Azarly of ClutchPointson December 27. “Whatever his return, we simply talk about [it]and I just said, ‘Just make your way,’ you know what I mean? Because he feels like he doesn’t want to just come in and ruin the flow and the chemistry that we’ve been building, but I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. I’ve been in every situation in the sense of being the protagonist, having to take [a step back]. So I think because of our aggressiveness and our team, we will continue to play the same way. “It’s just that we have another unique weapon on both ends of the court, so it’s definitely an advantage for us.”
In 2023-24, Leonard made the All-NBA Second Team and averaged 23.7 points on 62.6% true shooting, along with 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.9 blocks in 34.3 minutes.
