Injury Update: Kawhi Leonard OUT vs. Pelicans

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After not practicing on Saturday, LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard will not play in Sunday's game against the New Orleans Pelicans. This will be the third-straight game that Leonard has missed with tightness in his knee. The team is listing him out with right knee injury management.
With this being the first half of a back-to-back set, Leonard's availability on Monday will be something to watch for. He is not currently cleared to play both games in a back-to-back set, but if he ends up missing Monday as well, there will be a level of concern that these absences are not just injury management, but rather some level of a setback.
Leonard's absence in both games vs. OKC had some people already speculating this, but since the team was only there for a brief road trip, it made sense for Leonard to head back for treatment in LA. With a back-to-back immediately following that two-game set in OKC, Leonard was already expected to miss one of these upcoming games, so any major concern should be withheld until Monday.
If Leonard misses Monday's game as well, it would likely be more accurate for his absence to be labeled as knee tightness rather than injury management, unless there has been a misunderstanding as to what the team's plan for him is. After Sunday, Leonard will have played in just two of the team's first six games.
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Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.
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