Subscribe
Follow Us
Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard's health has been a major concern for many years now, effectively ruling him out of most back-to-backs, but he is apparently considering breaking that habit tonight.
Leonard, whose knee injury troubles are well-known, and as a result, he often sits one game during a back-to-back. For example, Leonard missed last Sunday's road game vs. the Cleveland Cavaliers due to “right knee injury management” and was back to work the next day, helping the Clippers beat the Orlando Magic on Monday.
There is a chance, though, that Leonard is feeling good enough at the moment to play tonight vs. the Dallas Mavericks after playing just 24 minutes in yesterday's blowout win of the Mavs.
“Kawhi Leonard told us he’s not doing media tonight after the Clippers win, but said, ‘we’ll do it tomorrow,'” ClutchPoints' Tomer Azarly posted on X, formerly Twitter, early Saturday morning. “When I followed up and asked him if that means he’s playing tomorrow, Kawhi said they’ll go through evaluations in the morning and see.”
After missing the first 34 games of the season, Leonard has remained relatively healthy, playing 33 of a possible 43 games since then. During that span, he has not missed more than a pair of games consecutively and most of his absences have come either in the first or second leg of a back-to-back.
With injury risk certainly in mind, the Clippers have managed to pace Leonard, who is playing 31.1 minutes per game, the least amount of playing time for him since the 2017-18 season. He is averaging 20.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.0 assists, but he has been, according to the high bar he has set, relatively inefficient this season. He is shooting 49.2% from the field (which would be his lowest mark since 2019-20), 39.9% on 3-pointers (the lowest in three years), and 80.2% at the free-throw line (his worst mark in a decade).
The Clippers also struggled with consistency after a stunningly impressive start but have found a groove lately. After a brief stay as the fifth-place team in the Western Conference, they have largely floated between sixth and eighth. Over the past month, though, they have won 13 of 16 games to keep pace with the Memphis Grizzlies and Minnesota Timberwolves, with whom they're tied for sixth.
At 45-32, the Clippers are just one game back from the fifth-place Golden State Warriors and 1.5 games back from the fourth-place Denver Nuggets, and two games back of the Los Angeles Lakers, who currently hold third place.
