Kawhi Leonard will not play for Clippers in Game 3 because of knee sprain
A sprained right knee will sideline Clippers star Kawhi Leonard for Game 3 of the team’s first-round playoff series Thursday night, and his availability to play later in the series hasn’t been decided as the team awaits reevaluations of the knee, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Times.
Leonard sprained the knee in the Clippers’ Game 1 victory in Phoenix on Saturday while scoring a game-high 38 points. The person, who was not authorized to speak publicly on the matter, said no single play was believed to have aggravated the knee, and that this latest injury isn’t related to the anterior cruciate ligament tear that Leonard suffered in 2021, which cost him all of last season.
Leonard, who was not listed on the team’s injury report between the first and second games, scored 31 points in a Game 2 loss while playing through the discomfort, but will be held out Thursday as the best-of-seven series returns to Los Angeles tied at 1-1.
Devin Booker had 38 points and nine assists, Kevin Durant scored 25 and Chris Paul was clutch late to give Phoenix the win over Clippers on Tuesday.
His readiness to play as soon as Saturday’s Game 4, or the long-term impact of the injury, isn’t yet known. Potentially complicating a speedy return, however, is the limited recovery time available for the Clippers, with only 41 hours between Games 3 and 4, the latter tipping off at 12:30 p.m.
Leonard leaves a gaping void in the lineup: His points, combined with the points that came from his assists, accounted for 45% of the team’s offense during the first two games of the Suns series. Defensively, Leonard had also guarded Phoenix star Kevin Durant a team-high 53 possessions.
His absence compounds the team’s injury woes, with All-Star wing Paul George sidelined since March 21 because of his own right knee sprain. George has taken part in workouts that involve shooting and running in recent days and posted to Instagram on Thursday a series of photos of him working out with the caption, “What I WONT do is quit.”
Since reshaping their roster in February, the Clippers played just one game without both Leonard and George, a March 31 victory in Memphis. Coach Tyronn Lue started reserve wing Terance Mann in place of Leonard, which could indicate how the Clippers might patch the hole in their lineup Thursday. Bumping Mann into the starting lineup led Lue to dig deeper into his rotation than usual in that game, with rarely used forward Robert Covington pressed into playing a major role. That adjustment creates the question of whether Covington or former starting forward Marcus Morris Sr. — neither of whom have played so far during this postseason — will be turned to for help against the Suns.
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