Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard gets concerning injury update as playoffs near

After undergoing an MRI last week, Leonard’s regular season may very well be done. When asked if there is any concern that Leonard’s absence could bleed into the playoffs, LA Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said, ‘not as of right now.’

In the first home game after the injury, Tyronn Lue would not speak to whether Kawhi Leonard underwent an MRI on his injured right knee, and simply said that the Clippers would need to play without him for a couple games until he can get back.

“I mean, we’re not going to get into the details of it, but he has knee soreness and he’s going to miss a couple games, and so we got to be ready to step up and play without him until he’s ready,” Tyronn Lue said to media members last week before the Clippers took on the Denver Nuggets. And so he’s going through his rehab process and trying to get better.”

The Clippers have played six games without Kawhi Leonard during the month of April, coming up with wins against the Denver Nuggets, Utah Jazz, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Phoenix Suns while dropping a game to the Sacramento Kings and a second to the Suns.

At 51-29, the LA Clippers all but have the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference locked up. The Dallas Mavericks are just one game back of them at 50-30, but the Clippers have tie head-to-head tiebreaker over them, so a win either Friday or Sunday would clinch the fourth seed for the Clippers.

Kawhi Leonard has played in 68 games this season, averaging 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.9 blocks per game on 52.5 percent shooting from the field, 41.7 percent from three, and 88.5 percent from the free throw line.