Kawhi Leonard’s prognosis has gone from bad to worse.
The Los Angeles Clippers All-Star said in September that he planned to play in Wednesday’s season opener after revealing he had undergone an offseason knee procedure. Last week, news broke that Leonard would be out indefinitely due to a lingering knee infection that sidelined him during last season’s playoffs.
On Wednesday, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that Leonard will miss “weeks” with the injury.
“I’m told Kawhi Leonard will be out for weeks,” Charania reported on ESPN on Wednesday. “This is not an injury that can be measured in a week or maybe two weeks. Of course not in days either.
“This will be an extended period where the Clippers start this season without him.”
That’s not good news for a retooled Clippers team that planned to lean even more on Leonard after losing All-Star Paul George in free agency to the Philadelphia 76ers after failing to reach an agreement on the conditions for a long-term contract.
When healthy, Leonard remains one of the game’s most dangerous two-way players. He is an elite defender who averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.6 steals last season while shooting 41.7% from three-point range.
But his health and availability have been a constantly moving target that has plagued his career since the end of his stint with the San Antonio Spurs. Leonard’s 68 games played last season were the most since joining the Clippers in 2019. But a knee infection kept him sidelined for the final eight games of the regular season and for four of the six playoff games in a loss to the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the league. postseason.
Prior to last season, Leonard had not played in more than 57 games in any of his previous four seasons with the Clippers. He missed the entire 2021-2022 season with a torn ACL. Now he’s on track to miss another significant portion of the regular season.
Leonard’s absence means the Clippers will rely more on James Harden and offseason acquisitions Derrick Jones Jr. and Kevin Porter Jr. to bear the burden. The Clippers open their season on Wednesday against the Phoenix Suns. They will do so at home in the first game of the regular season at the team’s new Inglewood home, the Intuit Dome.
