Is Kawhi Leonard Playing Tonight? Clippers Injury Report vs Jazz Drops Online

The Utah Jazz will be on the road to face the Los Angeles Clippers at Crypto.com Arena tonight and hopefully break their abysmal road loss record, which stands at 13 straight. They currently hold the 12th seed with a 30-50 record. The Clippers, on the other hand, sit fourth in the Western Conference with a 51-29 record, coming off a 108-124 loss against the Suns. As the team sets to win the pace with 2 more games left in the regular season, LA finds quite the players on the injury report.

The latest in the injury report for the Clippers has Kawhi Leonard still sidelined. Alongside him on the list is James Harden who is deemed questionable due to foot inflammation after sitting out the last match against the Suns. Aside from them, the rest of the LA team should be ready to get that victory.

Utah’s injury report is yet to be announced. But whatever the update, their key players remain out. Leading scorer Lauri Markkanen, and rebounder John Collins, as well as the 2nd (Collin Sexton), 3rd (Jordan Clarkson), and 4th (again, Collins) scorers continue to be sidelined with injuries. As of now, the active leading scorer is Keyonte George with 12.9 points per game.

But for the Clippers, Leonard’s injury status is concerning, especially so close to the playoffs.

Has the injury bug crawled up Kawhi Leonard again?

This season looked like the Clippers finally got what they bargained for when they signed Kawhi Leonard. The Klaw has remained perfectly healthy for the majority of the year, playing in 68 games. He was also averaging pretty great numbers – 23.7 points, 3.6 assists, and 6.1 rebounds while shooting 41.7% from the three-point line and a career-best 52.5% from the field.

On March 31st, during the road game against the Charlotte Hornets, Kawhi’s knee soreness flared up. It must have been pretty concerning because he returned to Los Angeles to get it checked instead of continuing to Sacramento. But the “precautionary MRI” didn’t show anything that could cause serious concerns for the 2x champion’s health. Coach Lue even said that he was hoping for Leonard to suit up against the Nuggets on the 4th.

He never did. And now, Kawhi’s absence from the Jazz matchup will be the seventh consecutive game that he will miss. But the team’s tight-lip responses regarding 6x All-Star’s updates have got everyone worried. The most recent report was that Kawhi suffered from a right knee inflammation.

The fact that this is the same knee that Kawhi Leonard partially tore his ACL in 2021 (he missed the whole season) and the meniscus in the 2023 playoffs has only got everyone skeptical about his appearance for this season’s playoffs. After having a splendid year throughout the year, only to lose it so close to the goal will be frustrating, no doubt. Hopefully, Ty Lue’s silence isn’t the calm before the storm.

Read More: Fun Guy Kawhi Leonard Pokes Fun at Career-Threatening Injuries He Survived Amid Healthy Clippers Season