Kawhi Leonard Out At Least Two More Games With Knee Injury
Star forward Kawhi Leonard is being sent home to Los Angeles for treatment on his injured left knee and will miss the final two games of the Clippers‘ road trip, the team announced (Twitter link via Law Murray of The Athletic). The Clips play at Washington on Monday and at Chicago on Tuesday.
Leonard, who missed Friday’s overtime win in Toronto with a right ankle sprain and left knee contusion, is dealing with irritation in his knee. He will be checked out again when the team returns to Los Angeles on Wednesday.
According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, who first reported the news (Twitter link), Leonard’s knee injury isn’t considered serious. The six-time All-NBA member sustained the contusion in a January 10 victory at Detroit.
The 33-year-old also missed 10 games in November with right foot and ankle injuries. The Clippers are 3-8 without Leonard so far in 2025/26.
Leonard has played at an MVP level during the Clippers’ dramatic turnaround. They were 6-21 on December 18 but have gone 12-2 since, currently holding an 18-23 record, good for the No. 10 seed in the Western Conference.
In 30 games this season (33.8 minutes per contest), Leonard is averaging a career-high 28.2 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.2 steals, with an excellent .499/.399/.941 shooting line.
Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller, who are both on two-way contracts, have played important roles for the Clippers recently and are likely to receive more minutes with Leonard out.
Leonard Dealing With Knee Contusion, Ankle Sprain
- In addition to a right ankle sprain, star forward Kawhi Leonard is also battling a left knee contusion he suffered last weekend, according to the Clippers (Twitter link via Law Murray of The Athletic). Leonard, who missed Friday’s overtime win in Toronto, is considered day-to-day.
Trade Rumors: MPJ, Kuminga, Raptors, Rockets, Clippers
Recent reporting from ESPN and The Athletic indicated that the Warriors haven’t engaged in any substantive talks with the Nets about Michael Porter Jr. Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area also hears Golden State has been “hesitant” to pursue Porter and suggests the team’s interest in the veteran forward has been overstated.
According to Johnson, if the Warriors do make a run at Porter, it would likely require a third team, as the Nets aren’t interested in Jonathan Kuminga.
However, Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com has heard differently, citing sources who say the Warriors are not only interested in Porter but have “something brewing” in regard to the 27-year-old ahead of the February 5 trade deadline. As Afseth writes, Porter is having a career year in Brooklyn and scouts think he could help just about any team.
Here are a few more trade rumors from around the NBA:
- Both Johnson and Afseth confirm the Lakers are a team to watch for Kuminga, who demanded a trade on Thursday, the first day he was eligible to be moved. President of basketball operations Rob Pelinka likes Kuminga’s game, sources tell Johnson, and the Lakers think the 23-year-old would provide athleticism on the wing alongside Luka Doncic. Still, it’s unclear if the two Pacific Division rivals would make an in-season trade, Johnson notes.
- Although the Raptors have been described as a buyer heading into the deadline, Afseth’s sources refer to Toronto’s approach as being “opportunistic” in search of potential buy-low opportunities. That may be why the team has been linked to stars like Anthony Davis, Domantas Sabonis and Ja Morant, all of whom have dealt with significant health issues this season.
- Houston’s front office isn’t overreacting to the Rockets‘ recent struggles, writes Kelly Iko of Yahoo Sports. Team sources tell Iko the Rockets have discussed trade concepts with approximately half the teams in the league, but no deals are imminent and they aren’t aggressively searching for upgrades. Opposing teams have checked in on the availability of Tari Eason, Clint Capela and Dorian Finney-Smith, Iko adds.
- There was speculation that the Clippers might be a seller after a miserable start to the season, but now they’re considered a possible buyer after reeling off 11 wins in their past 13 games, per Afseth, with John Collins and Bogdan Bogdanovic viewed as potential trade candidates. Collins is on an expiring $26.6MM contract, while Bogdanovic earns $16MM this season with an identical team option for 2026/27.
Clippers Sign Patrick Baldwin To 10-Day Contract
3:53 pm: Baldwin’s 10-day contract is official, according to NBA.com’s transactions log.
12:13 pm: The Clippers intend to sign forward Patrick Baldwin Jr. to a 10-day contract, reports Law Murray of The Athletic (via Twitter).
It doesn’t sound like the signing will happen immediately. According to Murray, the expectation is that Baldwin will join the team for Monday’s game in Washington. The Clippers play the Raptors in Toronto on Friday night before getting Saturday and Sunday off.
The 28th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Baldwin has appeared in 93 regular season games for the Warriors, Wizards, and Clippers since making his NBA debut. He finished last season on a two-way contract with L.A. and rejoined the team for training camp before being waived at the end of the preseason.
So far in 2025/26, Baldwin has played for the San Diego Clippers, L.A.’s G League affiliate. In 17 NBAGL contests, the forward – whose height is now listed at 7’0″, has averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.7 steals in 33.9 minutes per game, with a .546/.321/.652 shooting line.
The Clippers have an open spot on their 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to make room for Baldwin. He’ll carry a cap hit of $131,970, which will move the club to within about $1.15MM of its first-apron hard cap.
As Murray points out (via Twitter), carrying a full 15-man roster for 10 days will give the Clippers some extra flexibility with two-way players Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller. While a player on a two-way contract is permitted to be active for up to 50 regular season games, a team carrying fewer than 15 players on standard deals can’t use more than 90 combined active games for its two-way players.
As long as the Clippers have a 15th man under contract, they could have Sanders, Miller, and TyTy Washington Jr. active without any of those games being considered an “under-15” game and counting toward the team’s 90-game limit. Those games would still count toward each player’s individual limit.
So far this season, the Clippers have used 74 total active games for five two-way players: Sanders, Miller, Washington, Jahmyl Telfort, and RayJ Dennis. Telfort and Dennis have since been waived.
Clippers Notes: Harden, Kawhi, Zubac, Collins, Ballmer, CP3
Reports earlier in the 2025/26 season suggested that at least a handful of teams around the NBA were hoping star guard James Harden would land on the trade block with the Clippers off to a very slow start. But Harden, a Los Angeles native, has helped the team turn things around in recent weeks and tells Ramona Shelburne of ESPN that he has no desire to leave L.A.
“It’s hard to explain,” Harden said. “Being at home, that’s like the opportunity of a lifetime for me. Just be able to hoop in front of my family, friends, people I grew up with, people that raised me. It’s a different feeling. So as much as people talk all the time. That’s social media, that’s what people’s jobs are to talk. For me, it’s just like I’m actually living in it so I can’t get caught up in what people talk about, how people feel, whatever the case. I’m from L.A. and I’m blessed to be here.”
The Clippers have gone 11-2 since losing 21 of their first 27 games, but they’d still technically be out of the postseason picture if the season ended today — they have the same 17-23 record as the No. 10 Grizzlies, but Memphis holds the tiebreaker. Still, Harden is confident in the Clippers’ ability to “come all the way back” and continue climbing up the Western Conference standings.
“Some teams, when it gets that bad, they just let the wheels fall off,” Harden told Shelburne. “I had interviews where people were asking me, ‘How do you find confidence?’ and I’m like, ‘The confidence is there. The losses are frustrating, but the confidence is still there.’
“I think finding little tweaks and being a lot better defensively is what really helped us out. … Now we got to take one game at a time, just like when we were in the hole. We can come all the way back, but we have to chip away, chip away and really build some momentum going into the All-Star break.”
Here’s more on the Clippers:
- Along with Harden, star forward Kawhi Leonard has been leading the Clippers’ surge in recent weeks, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. During their 11-2 stretch, Leonard has averaged 32.7 points, 6.9 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.6 steals per game, with a .507/.440/.916 shooting line. “He’s been huge for us in the fourth quarters the last, what, three, four weeks,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “Just going down the stretch and taking those games over down the stretch has been huge for us.”
- Leonard will be inactive on Friday for the first time since November 22, having been ruled out of a rematch vs. his former team in Toronto due to a right ankle sprain. Center Ivica Zubac (left ankle sprain) and forward John Collins (right groin soreness) are considered questionable to suit up after missing Wednesday’s victory after Washington.
- Attorneys representing Clippers owner Steve Ballmer have filed to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that Ballmer used the former green banking company Aspiration to commit fraud by funneling money to Leonard. Ballmer’s lawyers refer to the allegations as “sensational” and “patently false,” according to Baxter Holmes of ESPN, who has the full story on the latest development in the Aspiration saga.
- Although the Clippers announced they were “parting ways” with Chris Paul in early December, he’s stuck in limbo as the team remains on the lookout for a trade opportunity to avoid waiving his guaranteed contract. Appearing on Good Sports with Kevin Hart & Kenan Thompson (YouTube link), Paul said he’s still hoping to land in a more favorable situation for the second half of the season. “I’m working out and training every day,” he said. “In all honesty, with the way all that stuff went down and all that, I think for me, I just love this game so much that I don’t want it to end like that. I’ve enjoyed the time (off), for sure. I get a chance to go to my kids’ games, but I don’t know yet (where I’ll end up).”
Scotto’s Latest: Clippers, Kings, AD, Hawks, Kuminga, Poeltl
The Kings and Clippers engaged in exploratory talks about a possible trade that would have sent forward DeMar DeRozan and guard Keon Ellis to Los Angeles in exchange for big man John Collins and another “small salary filler,” reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype.
However, those conversations occurred before the Clippers reeled off 11 wins in their past 13 games, according to Scotto. While that doesn’t necessarily mean the talks are dead, the implication seems to be that L.A. is far less likely at this point to shake up its roster in a major way.
After getting off to a 6-21 start, the Clippers are now 17-23, tied with Memphis for the 10th-best record in the Western Conference.
Here are a few more items of interest from Scotto:
- Given how limited Anthony Davis‘ value will be this winter as he recovers from a hand injury, several NBA executives who spoke to HoopsHype predicted that the Mavericks will hang onto him for the rest of the season unless Dallas is content to essentially salary-dump him. The Hawks, the team most frequently connected to Davis, aren’t operating with any urgency now that he’s hurt again, per Scotto.
- Exploring whether any new teams can be added to the list of potential suitors for Jonathan Kuminga, Scotto says the Heat and Wizards were previously thought to be in the mix, but Miami’s interested has diminished and Washington is unlikely to seriously pursue the Warriors forward. Scotto does confirm that the Trail Blazers are believed to have some interest in Kuminga, as Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports previously reported.
- In addition to doing so with Immanuel Quickley and RJ Barrett, the Raptors have also been gauging Jakob Poeltl‘s value on the trade market, Scotto writes. Poeltl is dealing with back issues this season and is owed $103.5MM over the next four years after this one, so it’s probably safe to assume he wouldn’t be a hot commodity.
And-Ones: Caboclo, All-Star Teams, Rising Stars, More
Former NBA forward Bruno Caboclo has signed a rest-of-season contract with Dubai Basketball, the EuroLeague team announced in a press release.
The 20th overall pick in the 2014 draft, Caboclo spent seven years in the NBA, last suiting up for Houston in 2020/21. The 30-year-old spent last season in Israel with Hapoel Tel Aviv, won the FIBA AmeriCup tournament with his native Brazil over the summer, and was sidelined to open ’25/26 due to a back injury.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- ESPN’s Tim Bontemps has made his picks for the 2026 All-Star teams, identifying nine locks from the Eastern Conference and 10 locks in the West, with five “bubble” candidates in each conference. Bontemps makes Pacers forward Pascal Siakam his final pick in the East over Desmond Bane and Michael Porter Jr., with Suns guard Devin Booker claiming his last spot in the West over Los Angeles stars Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, and Austin Reaves.
- Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Austin Rivers have been named honorary head coaches for the NBA’s 2026 Rising Stars event at All-Star weekend, the league announced (Twitter link). NBA rookies and sophomores will comprise three of the teams, with the fourth squad made up of G League standouts.
- Bobby Marks and Kevin Pelton of ESPN identify one trade candidate to watch on each NBA roster, ranging from big names like Ja Morant and Domantas Sabonis to under-the-radar trade candidates like Celtics big man Chris Boucher and Clippers forward Kobe Brown.
- In another story for ESPN, Marks takes a look at several of the most valuable traded draft picks for 2026, as well as outlining how certain teams could benefit from various convoluted swaps. Our breakdown of 2026’s traded first-round picks can be found right here.
Rory Maher contributed to this story.
Western Rumors: Pelicans, Rockets, Clippers, Suns, Blazers
Although the Pelicans have turned away teams expressing interest in forward Trey Murphy III and Herbert Jones, potential trade partners who have talked to New Orleans have gotten the impression the club is open to moving center Yves Missi and/or swingman Jordan Hawkins, reports Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
After starting 67 games and averaging 26.8 minutes per night as a rookie, Missi has made just seven starts and is averaging 18.2 MPG this season, having fallen behind newcomer Derik Queen on the frontcourt depth chart. As for Hawkins, the former 14th overall pick is having his worst NBA season, averaging just 4.4 points in 14.2 minutes per game, with a 30.3% mark on three-point tries.
While Hawkins likely wouldn’t have much value on the trade market, the Pelicans could potentially extract a decent return for Missi, who had a solid first year in 2024/25. Fischer confirms the Pacers have inquired on the big man, as previously reported by Michael Scotto.
Meanwhile, some of the teams interested in Murphy and Jones continue to hold out hope that the Pelicans are just posturing when they say they aren’t trading either of them this season, but Fischer believes the Pels’ stance is real, given how strongly they’ve rebuffed inquiries on those players so far.
Here are a few more Western Conference rumors from Fischer:
- The Rockets have dropped four of their last six games and have gone just 8-9 since their 15-5 start, but Fischer doesn’t get a sense that Houston is panicking at all, pointing out that the club played 23 of its first 36 games on the road. According to Fischer, the Rockets’ struggles would probably have to worsen considerably for the team to feel any urgency to acquire another ball-handler, especially since there’s still a chance Fred VanVleet could return from his ACL tear for the playoffs.
- When the Clippers got off to a 6-21 start this season, there were teams optimistic that James Harden and Ivica Zubac would be on the trade block this winter, but those hopes have “faded considerably” with L.A. winning 11 of 13 games to reenter the postseason race, Fischer writes.
- Rival executives are keeping a close eye on the Suns and Trail Blazers, per Fischer. Phoenix has won nine of its past 12 games, while Portland won seven of eight before losing to New York and Golden State this week. There’s curiosity about whether one or both of those teams could emerge as a “sneaky” buyer at the trade deadline, Fischer explains, observing that both the Suns and Blazers have multiple mid-tier contracts that could be used as trade chips in various kinds of deals.
Pacific Notes: Booker, Brooks, Hayes, Miller
Suns guard Devin Booker isn’t getting any love from the fans in terms of All-Star voting. The latest returns have Booker ranked 17th among vote-getters in the Western Conference.
Booker isn’t particularly surprised, even though he’s having a strong season. He’s averaging 25.3 points and 6.4 assists per game.
“There are some super big market teams,” he told Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “There are guys from different countries that have a whole country behind them. I kind of understand the process, but am I playing better than a lot of guys? For sure, but that’s not the setup.”
Teammate Grayson Allen feels Booker is being slighted by the voting public.
“He is the engine for our team,” Allen said. “Everyone knows he can score the ball, but this year, his play-making has been great. Assists, hockey assists, everything, he is the head of the snake for our team. We’ve surprised a lot of people this year and being the best player on this team, we’re not successful without him. Maybe the team success will help him out. I don’t know. I feel like he’s done enough individually to make it every year.”
Booker has made the All-Star team four times in his career.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- Suns wing Dillon Brooks is two technical fouls away from a league-imposed one game suspension. Brooks picked up his 14th technical foul against Miami on Tuesday. Brooks’ latest infraction came when he shoved Heat forward Norman Powell (YouTube video link). An automatic suspension is issued when a player reaches 16 technicals and he receives an additional suspension for every two technicals he receives after reaching that threshold. No other NBA player has more than nine techs at this point.
- Jaxson Hayes underwent an MRI on his left hamstring on Tuesday, according to Lakers coach JJ Redick. Hayes told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link) on his way into the arena that he has experienced tightness in the hamstring for more than a week. Hayes, who played 19 minutes against Sacramento on Monday, hopes to be back in the lineup as soon as next game if the MRI comes back clean.
- Clippers two-way player Jordan Miller is doing his best to earn a standard contract. His minutes have spiked in the last five games and he’s averaged 11.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game during that stretch, including a 21-point outing against Brooklyn and a 14-point performance against Charlotte. “I know what I’m capable of,” Miller told Janis Carr of the Orange County Register. “I played Summer League twice, got first-team honors, so it’s just like going out there and showing everybody like, ‘I belong here now.’ That’s really the theme of the year this year. It’s just like, show everybody you belong.”
Pacific Notes: Hachimura, Luka, Harden, Suns, Warriors
Although he was available on Monday, Lakers forward Rui Hachimura sat out for a seventh straight game after head coach JJ Redick learned that Hachimura would be available for just one game in the team’s back-to-back set. As Dave McMenamin of ESPN writes, Redick decided to save the forward for Tuesday’s game against Atlanta.
The Lakers lost without Hachimura on Monday, falling to a Sacramento team that made 17-of-26 three-point tries. Luka Doncic racked up 42 points vs. the Kings, but was battling a groin issue that required treatment throughout the night, notes McMenamin.
“I was really uncertain (about playing),” Doncic admitted after the game. “Before the game, like warming up, I felt something. So we were just trying to get warm and get going.”
While Hachimura will make his return on Tuesday, it’s unclear whether Doncic (left groin soreness) or LeBron James (left foot joint arthritis and right sciatica) will play. They’re both listed as questionable, per Marc Stein (Twitter link), and could join Jaxson Hayes (left hamstring soreness) and Austin Reaves (left calf strain) on the sidelines.
“Obviously we’re dealing with a lot of injuries right now,” James said on Monday, according to McMenamin. “Not only guys that are not in uniform, but even guys that are in uniform. So, we’re just trying to weather the storm.”
We have more from around the Pacific:
- Clippers guard James Harden become the NBA’s ninth all-time leading scorer on Monday, passing Shaquille O’Neal‘s career total of 28,596 points. “Shaquille O’Neal, somebody that I literally grew up watching here in L.A.,” Harden said, per The Associated Press. “Him and Kobe (Bryant) doing their thing, winning multiple championships, the most dominant big man in the history of the game. It’s a true honor, it’s a testament to the work that I put in.”
- Asked if injured guards Jalen Green (right hamstring strain) and Jamaree Bouyea (concussion protocol) will be available at some point during the six-game road trip that begins on Tuesday, Suns head coach Jordan Ott replied, “That’s the plan” (Twitter link via Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic). Green has been out since November 8, while Bouyea has missed Phoenix’s past four games.
- Spencer Davies of R.org profiles second-year Suns big man Oso Ighodaro, who has earned praise from Ott for his versatility and his ability to be a “connector” in a variety of lineups. Phoenix has a +7.5 net rating during Ighodaro’s time on the court this season, compared to a -1.2 mark when he sits. “I think last year, when it was spot minutes, I was just giving everything I got,” Ighodaro said. “And now, (I’m) playing a little bit longer stretches, trying to maintain that same level of play just for my entire stretch I’m in the game. I’m definitely being asked to do a little bit more this year, so I’m trying to do all that while maintaining all the effort and intensity.”
- In the wake of Sunday’s loss to Atlanta, Monte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area refers to the Warriors‘ roster as “profoundly defective” due to the team’s lack of length and athleticism, while Dalton Johnson of NBC Sports Bay Area questions whether head coach Steve Kerr should remain committed to a starting lineup featuring Moses Moody and Quinten Post alongside Stephen Curry, Jimmy Butler, and Draymond Green. That five-man unit has started 13 of the Warriors’ past 14 games but has a net rating of -3.3 on the season.