Kawhi Leonard has missed seven straight games after sitting out the Clippers’ 110-102 loss to the Jazz due to right knee management. The two-time Finals MVP is expected to miss Monday’s game against Cleveland, and his return remains uncertain.
Leonard has been participating in individual workouts, but there’s “really not a time frame” for the five-time All-Star to return to the lineup. Leonard played in two of the Clippers’ first three games this season and logged 21 minutes in each off the bench. Leonard felt stiffness in his surgically repaired right knee at a morning shootaround before the Clippers’ game against OKC on Oct. 25.
“He is progressing well,” Coach Ty Lue said, per ESPN. “We knew coming off an ACL; it wasn’t going to be a straight line. We talked about it before the season. The biggest thing is he’s progressing well. We are going to follow the lead of our medical staff, we got to be smart about the situation, but he is progressing — He is in a good place, he is progressing, and he is getting better, so that is the most important thing.”
Leonard tore his right ACL in Game 4 of the second round against Utah on June 14, 2021, and sat out last season to rehab the injury.
“There’s really not a time frame of when he is going to be back,” Lue said. “The biggest thing is just the testing that he has to go through with the medical and the slow progression of just getting better every single day. And so we’re just taking it day by day right now, not really a timetable.”
