The Los Angeles Clippers are nearing the return of their superstar forward Kawhi Leonard after missing the start of the season.
Leonard has missed the first 34 games of the 2024-25 NBA season, but has been ramping up towards a return.
Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard’s injury status
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has been listed as “OUT” against the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday afternoon. Leonard had been listed as OUT with right knee injury recovery for the entire season, with the team not releasing any timetable.
Kawhi Leonard is OUT vs. the Hawks.
Terance Mann is not listed and expected to play for the Clippers.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 4, 2025
Kawhi Leonard began ramping up his practice in December, participating in practices starting December 10th with the team when they were home for a stretch before the NBA Cup semifinals began in Las Vegas, Nevada.
A week later was the first time that Leonard fully participated in practice with the team, including taking contact.
Kawhi Leonard taking part in 5-on-5 + contact at Clippers practice.
Clippers play @ Mavs, @ Mavs, and @ Grizzlies before returning home for Warriors after a 3-day Christmas break. Looking like that’s a very realistic game for a return. https://t.co/MYaBtA2euG
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 18, 2024
Leonard, who is known for not wanting to play five-on-five basketball outside of the actual game, took part in multiple practice sessions over the last few weeks as part of his ramp-up.
The Clippers star traveled with the team on their three-game road trip to Dallas and Memphis, where he went through workouts and evaluations. It was the first trip that Leonard participated in this season and the first since the team traveled to Hawaii for training camp in early October.
“It was good,” Lue said of Leonard’s first road trip with the team. “He had a couple good days. Going on this next step, it’s not really a chance to practice since we play three games in four nights, so it’s not really worth going because we won’t have any practice days.”
Kawhi Leonard then stayed back for the Clippers’ road trip after Christmas in order to participate with the G League team in San Diego.
“[He still needs to] play some more five-on-five,” Lue explained as to why Leonard wouldn’t travel with the Clippers. “We’ve got to get him all the days we can get him in, keep stacking the days, and see how he feels after that.
“I know he doesn’t like to play five-on-five a lot outside of the games, but this is very important to the medical staff, to Lawrence [Frank], and to our group as well, just making sure he’s getting the right amount of reps, making sure he’s doing everything so this doesn’t occur again, so we can kind of monitor the fluid and see how it’s working. So far it’s been really good, and we just want to continue to keep progressing.
“It’s hard to get those [practice] days because we have three games in four nights coming up, so he won’t travel, he won’t go on this trip. He’ll stay back and he’ll practice with our G League team to be able to get those reps in and get those five-on-five games in.”
The biggest thing that Clippers are trying to prevent is another flare up and swelling in Leonard’s knee. It’s what caused him to miss most of the postseason and the Olympics with Team USA.
Leonard last played on April 26, 2024 in Game 3 of the NBA Playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks and was last healthy on March 31, 2024.
After the home contest against the Hawks, the Clippers go on the road for a two-game trip against the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets before returning home against the Charlotte Hornets next Saturday, January 11th.
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