The Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard will miss the team’s game tonight against the Kings due to right knee soreness, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. He returned to Los Angeles on Monday for treatment.
His status for Thursday’s game against the Nuggets is uncertain. Leonard played 37 minutes and scored 23 points against the Hornets on Sunday.
The fact that Leonard’s flared up is a troubling development for the Clippers, who are pointing toward to a deep playoff run. Leonard has appeared in 68 games this season, his most since the 2016/17 campaign. Norman Powell will move into the starting lineup in his place, Youngmisuk tweets.
We have more injury-related news to pass along:
- RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley are active for the Raptors’ game against the Lakers tonight, Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports tweets. Barrett hasn’t played since March 11 due to personal reasons and re-conditioning. Quickley has been out since March 17 for the same reasons.
- The Cavaliers’ Donovan Mitchell, who has been battling a sore left knee, will miss tonight’s game against Utah, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. It’s the first game of a back-to-back, with Cleveland facing Phoenix on Wednesday. Mitchell has appeared in 51 games this season and is ineligible for postseason awards.
- There’s optimism that Brandon Ingram will be back in action for the Pelicans next week, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania during an appearance on FanDuel’s Run It Back program (video link). “Brandon Ingram is going to be reevaluated at the end of the week, that’ll be the two-week mark, and the hope is by that three-week mark next week, he’s going to be back in the lineup,” Charania said. Ingram is working his way back from a left knee bone contusion.