Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has been ruled out for Thursday’s Game 3 against the Suns due to a right knee sprain, a source tells ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk (Twitter link). The team has confirmed the news (via Twitter).
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), Leonard initially sustained the sprain during Game 1 on Sunday and played through it during Tuesday’s Game 2. He is considered day-to-day for Saturday’s Game 4, and the injury is not related to Leonard’s ACL tear from 2021, Wojnarowski adds.
The Clippers have already been playing without Paul George due to his own right knee sprain, though that injury is far more severe than Leonard’s seems to be. George will likely miss the entire first-round matchup with Phoenix.
The series has been quite competitive thus far, with the Clippers taking Game 1 in Phoenix before the Suns evened it at one game apiece in Game 2. Obviously, losing Leonard for at least Game 3 will have a huge impact, as he has been the best player in the series through two games, averaging 34.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals on .545/.600/.882 shooting in 40.2 minutes.
It’s not realistic to replace that type of production with a single player, so the Clippers will need several contributors to step up on both ends of the court to win tonight. Terance Mann, Nicolas Batum, and Norman Powell are a few of the candidates for increased playing time.
Russ vs the suns….
this should be fun. Either he’s gonna drop 40 plus and trip dub orrrrrr go 3-26 with 12 tos and a technical.
Damn that sucks.
Im a clippers fan ! Sometimes they see their own worst enemy when they lose and sometimes when they are about to break through( 2021j fate and or luck won’t ever let them! Until proven otherwise clippers are destined to never win a title and it’s ok I guess everyone will live
Suns are a lock for game 3.
I don’t think anybody but Leonard have scored for the Clips in this series so far.
Not good…
I wanna see Batum heat up I feel like when he is making 3s everyone is. They’ve had great shooting nights even without their marquee gents. Wouldn’t call it a lock for the Suns.
The season they played well without Kawhi and pg13 they had much better versions of guys like batum Morris and even zubac while some big games from from players like Reggie Jackson and Luke kennard! Not as deep or dynamic
Hey, you’re right, I can’t argue because I had the clips pegged as a play-in or worse in december.
Anything is possible, even more so with gambling revenue…
Lol
I mean it’s very likely the clippers Kawhi and pg13 era doesn’t lead to one title and it’s ok! The duo was meant to only give them a chance not a guarantee of a title
Can’t argue with that. I think Ty Lue also deserves a lot of credit.
It’s Lucy pulling the football ….. again
Poor Chuck (Clippers)
So he sprained his knee two games back and then on Tuesday he scored 31 points in 38 minutes.
Cupcake!!
I thought it was spelled
L O A D M A N A G E M E N T
Players in the 80’s and 90’s didn’t take days off