Kawhi Leonard Set to Return from Injury During Clippers' Road Trip

The Los Angeles Clippers are back to .500 after losing two straight home games, to the Kings and the Spurs, respectively. Yet, most Clippers fans were more concerned about Kawhi Leonard's status than the outcome of the two games. Leonard had exited the loss to Sacramento early and was ruled out with an ankle sprain. He then missed the game against San Antonio on Monday. It turns out, however, the 34-year-old superstar will not be missing as much time as initially feared.

Clippers insider Joey Linn reported that Leonard will be "making the trip to New Orleans" and is "day-to-day." The Clippers face the Pelicans back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday. Leonard should be considered probable to return in one of those games. To give him some additional rest, the second night of the back-to-back might make more sense as the target date.

Kawhi Leonard is making the trip to New Orleans with the Clippers.

He is day-to-day, per the team.
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) March 17, 2026

Clippers Are Almost Certainly Getting Kawhi Leonard Back This Week

The Pelicans then head to Dallas to take on the Mavs on Saturday, before returning home to play the Bucks on Monday and Toronto on Wednesday. The lack of any more back-to-back games until April is a great sign as Leonard aims to return to 100%.

This is a very positive development for the Clippers' outlook until the end of the season. LA has 14 games left in the regular season, and only three of these games are against teams over .500. While they are unlikely to catch the No. 7 Phoenix Suns, who are five games ahead of them, the Clippers should feel good about their chances to hold onto the eighth seed. This should give them a significant advantage to make the playoffs through the play-in.

Obviously, none of this matters unless Leonard is back to playing at an MVP level. The Clippers have continued to play very well despite the trade deadline shakeup, and Darius Garland is rounding into form. Yet, for the Clippers to have a chance to make a noise in the postseason, Leonard has to be at full strength and without any minutes restrictions.

Clippers fans know better than being overly optimistic when it comes to Leonard, injuries, or the postseason. They will be cautious before getting their hopes too high. At the same time, Leonard has been impressively healthy this season and has looked as fit and athletic as ever. This should give the Clippers a fighting chance against anybody, but it's hard to fully believe in that without seeing Leonard back on the court. Hopefully, that will happen in New Orleans within a couple of days.