The Los Angeles Clippers are preparing to take on the Los Angeles Lakers tonight in their season opener. According to Chris Haynes of TNT, the Clippers are reportedly considering bringing Kawhi Leonard off the bench in his return to action.

Kawhi Leonard has missed the last 15 months as he recovers from a torn right ACL. He appeared in two preseason games, starting both, averaging 9.5 points, 2.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists in 16.5 minutes per game.

The Clippers star says he feels good entering opening night, suffering no setbacks in his lengthy recovery.

“I still feel good,” Kawhi Leonard told reporters ahead of the matchup vs. the Lakers. “Moving in the right direction. Really haven't been no flare ups or setbacks, so I feel good.

“You wanna get games under your belt. Obviously me, get game reps instead of practicing and like I said, just keep building from the first game and that’s how we’re gonna see where we’re gonna go. It’s a process and it starts tomorrow.”

Head coach Tyronn Lue said Wednesday that the Clippers will play it safe with Leonard as he works his way back from the torn ACL.

“We have a goal in mind of what we want those guys to play and so I’m not going to let you guys know that but just make sure we do the right thing, just being smart and trusting the data that we’ve received back from those guys and just making sure their body’s feeling well, how they’re feeling, and then we can continue to slowly, slowly progress. But we just got to make sure right now we’re doing right by those guys and even if they want to play more and do more we can’t allow that to happen.”

Throughout the preseason, Lue has expressed the team's priority to keep Kawhi Leonard, as well as John Wall, healthy this season. That could mean heavily managing his minutes and workload throughout the first few months of the season.

Leonard suffered the torn ACL on June 14th, 2021 in Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz. He was initially under the impression he would be good to go for the rest of the postseason, but further testing revealed a torn ACL.

He underwent surgery on the torn ligament a month later and has been hard at work to return to the Clippers lineup.

On October 3rd, Kawhi Leonard played his first NBA game albeit in preseason against the Portland Trail Blazers. He knocked down the game's opening shot attempt, finishing with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals in 16 minutes.

The Clippers-Lakers game is set to tip off at 7PM PST on TNT.