The Los Angeles Clippers have one game remaining against Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors heading into the NBA All-Star break, but they'll have to play it without Kawhi Leonard.
The Clippers star has been ruled out for Wednesday's game against the Warriors due to a left adductor strain, the team announced on Tuesday.
This is the first time Kawhi Leonard has been added to the Clippers injury report with anything related to this left adductor strain. Leonard had played 21 consecutive games for the Clippers since returning from the hip injury he suffered in mid-December. Barring any last-minute changes, Leonard's absence on Wednesday night will be his fifth of the season.
Kawhi Leonard played 30 minutes in the Clippers home loss against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night. He didn't show signs of any injury, and there was no mention of any injury by him or head coach Tyronn Lue in their postgame press conferences.
Wednesday's game is the Clippers' final one before the All-Star break. Leonard and teammate Paul George were named All-Stars, and were both expected to appear in Indianapolis for All-Star weekend, but that appears to be in jeopardy as of right now.
With the arrival of James Harden in a trade from the Philadelphia 76ers back in October, Leonard is seeing a 26.1 percent usage rate thi season. If that stands, it would be his lowest usage rate since the 2015-16 season, his second-to-last full season with the San Antonio Spurs.
“I think acquiring James has really changed. That's helped Kawhi get the ball in his spots, looking to score the basketball. [Paul George] as well, catch and shoot playing off closeouts and catch and shoot 3’s…
“James was taking a lot of pressure off of PG and Kawhi as far as having to make plays and so having a traditional point guard, we acquired Russ late last year who helped with that as well. But just acquiring James and the way he can pass the basketball, the way he can read pick up roll situations. It's been fantastic for those guys. They haven't had a high usage rate, like you said, they haven’t had a lot of wear and tear on their body, so that's why they've been able to play in so many games and play in back to backs and all the things they've been able to do this year.”
This season, Kawhi Leonard is averaging 24.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 steals per game on 52.7 percent shooting from the field, 45.3 percent from three, and 89.1 percent from the free throw line.
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