Kawhi Leonard won’t play for the Los Angeles Clippers’ back-to-back road games against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Leonard will sit down and out for this Tuesday and Thursday match. Per head coach Ty Lue, Leonard experienced stiffness in his surgically repaired knee, and the franchise is operating to be extremely cautious in his condition.
Leonard will go back to Los Angeles on Wednesday to take a treatment on his knee and to determine if he’ll be able to return against the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday.
“After shootaround, [he] experienced some stiffness in his knee,” Lue said before the Clippers’ match with the Thunder on Tuesday, via ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk. “And so we want to be cautious, make sure we’re doing the right thing by him, even though he wanted to play. We just thought it wasn’t smart. He can be mad at us if he wants to but just not smart right now.”
The Clippers have been shorthanded already with Paul George (non-covid illness) and Marcus Morris Sr. (personal reasons) listed unavailable.
Leonard played for the two out of three Clippers games so far, coming off the bench. He is averaging 12.5 PTS, 6.5 REB, 2.0 AST in 21 minutes.
