Kawhi Leonard Injury Status vs Blazers

Will two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, these days perhaps the third-most lethal man on the L.A. Clippers behind its breakout backcourt of James Harden and Norman Powell, suit up against the tanking Portland Trail Blazers on Thursday?

According to Brad Turner of The Los Angeles Times, L.A. head coach Ty Lue has indicated that Leonard will sit out Thursday's contest against the Trail Blazers. Because the Portland bout arrives on the second night of a back-to-back slate of games, Lue opted instead to press Leonard into service against Wednesday's opposition, the Brooklyn Nets — like the Trail Blazers, another rebuilding squad.

Kawhi Leonard will not play in back to back game Thursday night in Portland, per Clippers coach Ty Lue. Leonard will play tonight vs Nets
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) January 16, 2025

That wound up being a smart call.

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In a 126-67 blowout victory, Leonard certainly made his Nets game count. Playing just 23 minutes, the six-time All-Star scored a team-most 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting from the field and 7-of-7 shooting from the charity stripe, two rebounds and a steal.

Leonard also notched a +46 plus-minus for his efforts, third-best on the team behind only center Ivica Zubac's +48 and shooting guard Powell's +47.

23 points in 23 minutes for The Klaw 🖐🏾

🎯 @Kia Performance of the Game pic.twitter.com/0eoUzgMK6E
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 16, 2025

Leonard, 33, has missed all but four games thus far in 2024-25 while recuperating from knee inflammation.

The two-time Defensive Player of the Year is averaging just 21.3 minutes a night across his four games this year. In those minutes, he's logging fairly efficient 12.3 points on .429/.357/.800 shooting splits, 3.0 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.0 assists a night.

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Portland and L.A. find themselves on two very different trajectories this season.

The Clippers have gotten off to a surprisingly robust 22-17 record this season, even without Leonard for much of it. L.A. is the Western Conference's fifth seed, and is just 1.5 contests behind the 24-16 Denver Nuggets for a potential playoff homecourt advantage.

At 13-26 and losers of three straight, the Trail Blazers have firmly established themselves as a team to watch in the ace to the bottom of the league standings. Portland is currently the West's No. 13 seed, and overall has the sixth-worst record in the NBA.

The goal is getting a top lottery pick ahead of this summer's draft for the fourth season in a row.

If anything the Trail Blazers want to lose as many games as possible — so playing a Clippers club without one of its best two-way players is not ideal, as it at least makes L.A. vulnerable.

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