DALLAS – The Clippers announced Sunday that star wing Kawhi Leonard will be out indefinitely with right knee inflammation.
Lawrence Frank, the team’s president of basketball operations, spoke to members of the media before Game 4 of the Clippers’ first-round game against the Dallas Mavericks. The Clippers trail 2-1, having lost both games in which Leonard played after returning from the inflammation that had kept him out since March 31.
After he played 35 minutes in Game 2, Leonard lacked mobility and was ineffective in 25 minutes during Game 3 on Friday in Dallas.
“Kawhi is out today,” Frank said. “He’s extremely frustrated and disappointed that he’s not playing today; he wants to play. But it was obvious in Game 3 that his mobility was severely restricted. So organizationally we just made a decision that he’s out.
“The obvious question, I know is coming, so I’ll beat you to it: When’s he coming back? I can’t tell you a timeline. I wish I had a crystal ball, just basically until he can show that he can make all the movements he needs to make, that’s when he’ll come back, that will be the time frame.”
In January, the Clippers signed Leonard, a Moreno Valley native and former Riverside King High School star who will turn 33 on June 29, to a three-year, $152.4 million contract through the 2026-27 season.
In July 2019, the Clippers won the NBA’s free agency sweepstakes by signing Leonard after he’d led the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA title. But Leonard’s tenure with the Clippers has been marred by injuries, including a pair of serious right knee injuries, a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the 2021 playoffs and a torn meniscus in last season’s postseason.
Leonard played 68 games this regular season, the most of his Clippers’ tenure, and averaged 23.7 points on 52.5% shooting, to go with 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game.
Lawrence Frank says Kawhi is out today and until he gets his mobility back. pic.twitter.com/ImkFk9ciuV
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) April 28, 2024
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said the news was heartbreaking for Leonard: “It’s definitely devastating for Kawhi. All the work he’s put in this year and the amount of games he’s played and worked hard to get to this to the place he wants to be in the playoffs. And to be to this point, to the place he wants to be in the playoffs, and to be hurt and not be 100% and capable of playing the way, is very frustrating for him and I feel bad for him.”
Still, Lue expressed confidence and said his team has been preparing to play with or without the six-time All-Star and two-time NBA Finals MVP.
“We’ve played without Kawhi before,” Lue said. “We can’t hang our heads, we understand what it takes what we have to do. How we have to play, the blueprint.
“I just thank Kawhi for trying to get out there and do what he can.”
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“We’re up for the challenge,” Ty Lue says about life without Kawhi. Says news of his injury is devastating for Kawhi. pic.twitter.com/V6SkmUMIfz
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) April 28, 2024