The Los Angeles Clippers will kick off their 2025-26 regular season with a visit to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz. Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal, and Bogdan Bogdanovic are players with the most attention on them as far as their injury statuses go to start the season.
So what are the injury statuses of Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal, and Bogdan Bogdanovic with opening night upon us?
Kawhi Leonard's first healthy offseason
Leonard has dealt with a number of unfortunate injuries throughout his Clippers tenure, which means he's had to rehab just as much.
But after four consecutive summers dealing with injuries or rehab — ACL tear in 2021 and 2022, meniscus tear in 2023, and knee inflammation in 2024 — Leonard just went through his first healthy offseason.
“It was just exciting to be in an offseason not going through rehab,” Leonard said entering training camp. “I was able to push my body to the limit of what I wanted to do without repercussions or dealing with a therapist or anything, so that was great for me. I was able to walk around and enjoy my summer.”
Kawhi Leonard participated in three of the four preseason games with the Clippers and is ready to go for the start of the NBA season tonight against the Jazz. Leonard isn't expected to face any kind of minutes limit, but the Clippers are going to be smart about his workload early in games and throughout the year.
“I think balancing in the first half is important, and then in the second half, you go as you need them. So like early on in the season, we don't want to just run guys into the ground. The first half is about just keeping their minutes down, and in the second half, we'll try to use them as needed. We'll see those first 10 to 12 games and see how he feels.”
Leonard averaged 16.7 points on 48.5 percent shooting in 21.4 minutes per game in the preseason while taking six three-pointers per game. It's only preseason, but a six three-point attempt average would be a new career-high for Leonard if he were to do it over the regular season.
Bradley Beal ready for opening night
Bradley Beal underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in May, following the conclusions of his second season with the Phoenix Suns.
The new Clippers guard has had a healthy offseason rehabilitating his knee and trying to work his way into game shape, but was limited to start training camp. Beal partially participated in scrimmages for the first half of camp, but ramped up his activity as the preseason went along.
Beal participated in his first full scrimmage on October 6th and was upgraded to available for the Clippers' final preseason game against the Warriors.
In just under 15 minutes, Beal recorded 12 points, two rebounds, one steal, and one blocked shot on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. His three misses were all from three, going a perfect 6-of-6 inside the arc.
“I think I came out of it pretty good for not touching the floor this whole preseason, but I wasn't going to be super critical of myself,” Beal said of his lone preseason game. “There's a lot of stuff I could've been better at on the defensive end for sure and not turning the ball over a few times. But for the most part, I felt great moving around. I think that's the most important thing. My wind was better than I thought it would be. It was definitely a good start for sure.”
Beal said his plan has always been to be ready for opening night, and everything seems primed for that. Beal was not listed on the Clippers' injury report for Wednesday night's season opener against the Jazz and is slated to start alongside James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr., and Ivica Zubac.
Bogdan Bogdanovic ready to go despite back injury
Bogdan Bogdanovic played just two minutes in the Clippers preseason opener against the Guangzhou Loong-Lions on October 9th before leaving with lower back soreness. He had been a limited participant until his return for the Clippers' preseason finale against the Golden State Warriors on October 17th.
“It feels good, feels good to be back with the squad, playing with them,” Bogdanovic said of his return. “I'm good in general. I can't go back. I've got to just look forward man. What happened, happened. Hopefully [an injury] doesn't happen and we're moving forward. It's part of the game.”
Bogdanovic is expected to be a significant cog in the wheel of the Clippers' second unit. Chris Paul and Kris Dunn have manned the backcourt well, so Bogdanovic is slated to slide into the frontcourt with John Collins and Brook Lopez, assuming the team wants to keep Nicolas Batum's workload low early in the year.
Bogdanovic played 30 games with the Clippers after being acquired at the trade deadline. In 25 minutes a night, the Serbian guard averaged 11.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 42.7 percent from three.
