Kawhi Leonard Provides Latest Injury Update on His Ankle After Hornets Win

Kawhi Leonard has been leading the Los Angeles Clippers to wins despite playing through an ankle injury.

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

The Los Angeles Clippers won their third straight game on Monday to improve to 16-23 for the season. After winning ten out of their last 12, the Clippers have seemingly righted the ship and are inching towards a postseason spot. With how big a hole they have dug for themselves earlier in the season, however, the Clippers can't take their foot off the gas. Their margin of error is small, which means that they have to play their stars through minor injuries and rely on them for extended minutes.

For example, Kawhi Leonard has been playing with a questionable tag due to a right ankle sprain since suffering the injury against the Knicks last Wednesday. He has been able to suit up and play around 30 minutes in each of the last three games, including a back-to-back over the weekend against the Nets and the Pistons.

After Monday's win over the Hornets, Leonard provided the latest on his ankle in the most Kawhi fashion. When asked about how his ankle is feeling by The Athletic's Law Murray, the star forward responded, "good, good. I was able to play tonight. It's good."

Kawhi Leonard ankle update, from Kawhi Leonard pic.twitter.com/9vqWDoGKIX

— Law Murray 🐐 (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 13, 2026

Kawhi Leonard Continues to Dominate Despite Playing Through an Ankle Sprain

As it's typical with Leonard, he didn't reveal too much about the severity of the injury or his feelings around it. While it's certainly positive that Leonard has been playing and performing really well, Clippers fans can't help but hold their breath when it comes to injuries around their franchise star.

Before the game against Charlotte, it was reported that Leonard's minutes would be capped at 30. He, in fact, played 30 minutes and scored 35 points on 11/19 shooting from the field, 5/9 from three, and 8/9 from the charity stripe. He has consistently been aggressive, both in taking threes off the dribble and attacking the basket to get to the free-throw line. As a result, Leonard has easily been an All-NBA caliber performer this season when he has been on the court.

While that is certainly very impressive given his age and injury history, the Clippers have to be cautious about how much to put on Leonard. Finding the right balance between trying to win games and making sure not to run Leonard to the ground for the second half of the season will be a challenge for Ty Lue.

Leonard is already playing 33.9 minutes per game and has the highest usage rate in any season since his first campaign with the Clippers back in 2019-20. That type of load at this stage in his career, with an ankle sprain, creates an obvious risk. As long as the team is winning and looking like a playoff team, however, few Clippers fans will mind.