‘Very Deflating’ Kawhi Leonard Injury Costing Clippers In Playoffs

It wasn’t easy, but the Los Angeles Clippers navigated a very difficult regular season to earn the No. 5 seed in the Western Conference. Key rotation players being sidelined throughout the year presented some challenges for Tyronn Lue, but it was something that the front office had prepared for coming into the 2022-23 NBA season.

Many people thought the Clippers had the deepest, most talented roster in the NBA. Their biggest obstacle to overcome would be health, which let them down during the regular season and once again in the playoffs.

Los Angeles did their job on the road to start their series against the Phoenix Suns. They won Game 1, meaning they would head back home with at worst a split. Homecourt advantage was theirs, but injuries once again derailed them.

Already without Paul George, the Clippers have now also lost Kawhi Leonard. Leonard was magnificent in the Game 1 victory and put together another strong performance in Game 2 despite the loss. Unfortunately, he wasn’t even able to get on the court for Game 3 because of a knee sprain.

“It’s very deflating,” Lue said after the Clippers’ loss on Thursday. “I think more so for Kawhi, because you have a guy who’s coming off ACL, hasn’t missed a rehab session, eats right, eats clean, does everything he can for his body, works extremely hard to get to this point. Then you have something like this happen.

Leonard’s injury reportedly was a re-aggravation suffered in Game 1. He played through it in Game 2, but the pain was too much to overcome to get on the court for Game 3. 

“Symptoms got worse after Game 2,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said before Game 3. “Obviously, if we weren’t comfortable with [Leonard] playing [in Game 2], we wouldn’t have. But after the game, things didn’t get better. They got worse. So we will rule him out and kind of take it day by day.”

Without him and George, two elite defenders, the Suns had their way offensively. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant both scored at will, scoring 45 and 28 points respectively. The two combined to shoot 26-of-44 from the field, 4-of-10 on 3-pointers and 17-of-18 from the foul line.

Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell did their best to keep up, scoring 30 and 42 points respectively. But, it wasn’t enough as Phoenix came away with a 129-124 victory, taking back control of the series.

“I just feel sorry for him,” Westbrook said. “He probably was playing his best basketball in a while, probably the best in the world honestly. It just sucks just for him mentally.

“But it was good to see him be around [at Game 3] and communicate with us on the bench. Hopefully, we can see how he’s feeling and see what’s next. If he’s not back, we have to rally around each other, support each other, find ways to make something happen. It’s a series. First to four. Get ready for Saturday afternoon.”

Right now, Leonard is considered day-to-day for the game on Saturday afternoon. If the Clippers want any chance to evening this series up before heading back to Phoenix, they need Leonard out on the court.

If he is unable to play, others will have to step up beyond Westbrook, Powell and Bones Hyland. That trio combined for 92 of the team’s 124 points, while the Suns had six different players score at least eight points in the game.