7:10pm: The Clippers have officially ruled Leonard out for Game 1, tweets Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times.
5:00pm: The right knee injury that forced Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard to miss the past two games will also keep him out of Sunday’s opener of the Western Conference finals, tweets Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports.
Leonard won’t make the trip to Phoenix, choosing to stay in Los Angeles and get treatment on the knee. There’s no update yet on his status for Game 2 or the rest of the series.
He hasn’t played since hurting the knee midway through the fourth quarter of Game 4 against the Jazz. There are concerns that it might be an ACL injury, but the team is still officially calling it a sprain.
Leonard had been outstanding in the playoffs before being sidelined. He averaged 32.1 points, 7.9 rebounds and 4.6 assists in the first round against the Mavericks, then posted a 27.3/7.5/4.0 line in four games against Utah.
Since when does Kawhi stay in Los Angeles?
Warriors 5 years 5 conference finals
It takes Clippers 50 years to play in conference finals
Why?
Luka and Mitchell played with injury
no, it was a miracle named terrance mann being born specifically for this moment in time to make this reality.
Did you not watch Kawhi in 2019?
Nice work if you can get it.
An ACL is nothing to be amused about. Last gm he played. Clippers tied it up 2-2. Kawhi stat line
34 mins, 31 pts, 7 reb, 3 ast, 2 stl,
Just hope it’s not an ACL. But it’s not looking good to me. Clippers are done, not beating Suns. Chris not missing more than one gm.
Devil’s in the details here and they’re being vague. Is it an ACL sprain — or another kind of sprain?
Because if it’s an ACL strain the math gets tough. Do you risk him doing what KD did in ’19? Come back and then blow out his ACL?
If it is a sprain, he probably shouldnt play. Those usually lead to tears at some point. A strain might be different if it’s only a grade 1 strain. He might be able to come back mid-late in the series, in that scenario
Good argument for the clipps GM to resign him on a shorter term
I hate to second guess a player’s heart but dang. If you can’t play hurt then at least travel with the team.
That is what suggests they are trying to hide a more serious injury. On the other hand, Kawhi has never been one to overwork when he is injured. Doesn’t seem that the team feels his ‘leadership’ will be missed in the locker room.