Los Angeles Notes: Kawhi, Harden, Christie, Davis

According to Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue, star wing Kawhi Leonard practiced for “a little bit” on Thursday, per Andrew Greif of The Los Angeles Times (Twitter link). Leonard, 32, has been inactive for the Clippers’ last three games due to a hip injury, and is considered questionable against the Grizzlies Friday night.

When healthy, Leonard has looked like his All-Star self this season. The two-time Finals MVP is averaging 24.4 points per game on .521/.429/.877 shooting, along with 5.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.7 blocks per night.

There’s more out of the City of Angels:

• Clippers star point guard James Harden is maintaining an approach of consistent, positive communication on the floor, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. “You see after practice James is grabbing six guys every day and just going through pick-and-roll drills, how he wants the bigs to screen it,” Lue said. Carr notes that Harden’s two-man game with starting center Ivica Zubac is also doing well. “I don’t think there was one point where it clicked,” Zubac said. “We do it a lot at the facility and we do it a lot in the games and all that repetition game after game helps and we’re still not there yet. He still gets mad at me sometimes when I slip out or if I don’t flip a pick. I still sometimes don’t know what he wants so there’s still a lot of room for improvement, but with repetition and with games it’s going to get better.”
• In a Thursday blowout win over the Hornets, second-year Lakers shooting guard Max Christie earned rotation minutes for the first time since December 15, observes Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link). Christie made an instant impact on both ends of the floor, scoring 10 points while making 3-of-4 field goals and 2-of-2 free throws. He also chipped in seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal while registering a +18 during his 24 minutes of action. Though 12 of those 24 minutes happened during a garbage time fourth quarter, Christie was also a key contributor during the 12 meaningful rotation minutes he logged.
• After helping propel his team to a 133-112 demolition of the Hornets, Lakers star center Anthony Davis discussed the club’s intriguing versatility and mentioned that he believes the team’s recent starting lineup will stick, per Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Head coach Darvin Ham is currently starting LeBron James at point guard, Taurean Prince at shooting guard, Cam Reddish at small forward (he was injured Thursday), Jarred Vanderbilt at power forward, and Davis at center. “I think that’s going to be the lineup,” Davis said. “And that first group — me, Bron, TP [Prince], Cam, Vando — we just got to keep logging minutes and keep figuring it out, especially on the defensive end. We’re all five defensive-minded players and we like playing defense so we’ll keep figuring out these schemes and how we can be better, and then, offensively, we’ll just figure it out.”