Kawhi Leonard sat out Tuesday night’s road game against the Los Angeles Clippers because of a hip issue, though, the Toronto Raptors didn’t seem to miss him at all, as evidenced by their dominant 123-99 win.
The ho-hum nature of the contest also brought into the surface some peripheral in-game developments for people to talk about – such as the absence of Leonard on the Raptors’ bench. Usually, a player who is not healthy enough to suit up but is with his team during road games would sit with his teammates on the bench. That wasn’t the case for Leonard on Tuesday, as he was notably missing on the sidelines, prompting speculations to brew in Twittersphere about his real whereabouts or what exactly he was doing while his teammates were beating the Clippers.
For Eric Smith of Sportsnet.ca, the likely explanation for Leonard’s no-show was that the talented two-way forward simply didn’t have with him the proper attire, as mandated by the NBA, for inactive players who chose to appear on the bench.
Article Continues BelowThose asking about Leonard not being on the bench: He's likely gettin treatment during games (perfect time; trainers are 100% yours). And he wasn't plannin to sit…so he likely didn't have the proper attire. Being on the bench isn't mandatory but being dressed appropriately is
That’s one way to look at it.
Or maybe Leonard was simply not in the mood to be around people, which anyone could easily tell based on his laconic and inert response to a question about Christmas prior to the Clippers game.
Hopefully for the Raptors, Leonard will be good to go Wednesday night against the Golden State Warriors at ORACLE Arena.