The Los Angeles Clippers will have to make do without their best player as the postseason tips off. Kawhi Leonard has officially been ruled out of Game 1 against the Dallas Mavericks on Sunday, Clippers coach Ty Lue said during pregame media availability, per ClutchPoints' Tomer Azarly.
Leonard last took the floor on March 31st, sidelined ever since due to inflammation in his right knee. He was listed as questionable for Los Angeles' playoff opener on the latest injury report.
Lue opted against revealing who would be starting in Leonard's place on Sunday alongside James Harden, Terance Mann, Paul George and Ivica Zubac.
Norman Powell's spot-up three-point shooting and hard-charging, straight-line drives would best compensate for Leonard's absent scoring punch, while 38-year-old old PJ Tucker would give Los Angeles the best chance at limiting the effectiveness of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving defensively. Russell Westbrook is poised to play a major role in this highly anticipated first-round matchup, but is unlikely to start due to his tricky fit alongside Harden on the other end of the floor. Career reserve Amir Coffey might be Lue's best option.
Leonard missing Game 1 comes as no surprise. Both Lue and team president Lawrence Frank made clear leading up to Sunday's matchup that Leonard was still progressing toward a full recovery, only taking the practice floor in recent days for non-contact activity.
The two-time Finals MVP's status going forward will be assessed on a “day-by-day” basis, Lue told reporters on Sunday.
Kawhi Leonard's injury looms extremely large vs. Luka Doncic, Mavericks
Los Angeles went 44-24 with Leonard in the lineup during the regular season, compared to 7-7 when he sat. His +11.9 on-off net rating ranked second on the team behind Paul George, per NBA.com/stats.
Leonard's presence or lack thereof looms even larger against Dallas than those numbers suggest. He's always taken to another level in the playoffs, flipping the proverbial switch to stake a seemingly annual claim–when healthy enough to at least make a fleeting postseason appearance, like last year—as the best two-way player in basketball.
Leonard reaching those heights would be a major development in any playoff series, but especially for a rematch with the Mavericks.
There's no good matchup for Leonard one-on-one when he's feeling good physically and has the jumper going. Derrick Jones Jr. doesn't have the strength needed to keep Leonard from getting to his spots, and PJ Washington has never been tasked with the ‘stopper' role under the playoff microscope. Maxi Kleber has at least made Leonard work for his points in the past, but is a half step slower—if not more—defensively now than he was two years ago, the last time these teams met in the playoffs.
Los Angeles wouldn't start with Leonard defending Doncic nor Irving if he was able to play in Game 1, conserving his energy for the other side of the ball. But Leonard will indeed take those impossible assignments during crucial late-game possessions and during the series' true inflection points should he be healthy enough to take the floor, just like he did during that legendary Game 6 performance in 2021, when he dropped 45 points on 25 shots while keeping Doncic in check defensively.
Bottom line: The Clippers' most realistic path to beating the Mavericks involves Leonard challenging Doncic as the best player in this series. Maybe that's too much to ask of Leonard given the fragile current state of his surgically repaired right knee. Regardless, let's keep our fingers crossed he's healthy enough to at least get the opportunity to earn that mantle in Game 2 or beyond.
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