Kawhi Leonard hasn’t played consistent basketball since March 2024, as the Los Angeles Clippers superstar is once again suffering from unexplainable knee injuries that are keeping him off the court. Leonard is yet to make his 2024-25 season debut, with plenty of questions about his health still swirling.
Bill Simmons revealed on his podcast that his Clippers source has told him that Leonard is returning to the court before Christmas and has already ramped up for a return.
“My Clippers guy was telling me Kawhi’s coming back before Christmas. I think he’s ramped up. He’s ramped up and ready to go.”
Kawhi Leonard is expected to return to the LA Clippers lineup “before Christmas,” sources tell @BillSimmons:
“My Clippers guy was telling me Kawhi’s coming back before Christmas. I think he’s ramped up. He’s ramped up and ready to go.”
(h/t: @TheArfur) pic.twitter.com/MVBgucJ8EJ
— APHoops (@APH00PS) December 5, 2024
The Los Angeles Clippers have had a surprisingly solid start to the season, currently competing for a Playoff spot as the No. 7 seed with a 14-10 record. While they’ve had some rough losses this season, the Clippers have been one of the best defenses in the NBA and have been fiercely competitive.
The last official update we had regarding Kawhi was that he was participating in Clippers shooting practice, but there hasn’t been an update in almost a month. It’s been a tricky situation to track, as Leonard played nearly 70 games last season before his knee caused him to miss the last month of the season. He played two Playoff games and looked terrible, prompting the Clippers to sideline him fully.
Leonard attempted to play for Team USA over the summer, but the national team replaced him with Derrick White due to injury, although Leonard and the Clippers organization slammed Team USA for saying he was injured. It turns out they were right, as Leonard hasn’t come close to playing basketball since and we still don’t know the full details of what his injury status is like.
Simmons has gotten reports wrong before, so there’s no guarantee that this time Leonard is guaranteed to return. But at no point have we been told about the specific nature of Leonard’s injury, so everyone outside the Clippers just has to assume stuff about his health.
He averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists last season, making an All-NBA team despite the NBA instituting rules about the requirement of 65 played games in a season to qualify.
That regular-season load last season definitely wore Kawhi down, so the Clippers could just be using a strategy to see how long they can keep themselves in the Playoff hunt without Kawhi as the forward will elevate the franchise upon returning.
James Harden and Norman Powell have done a great job of covering up for Leonard and Paul George, who left the franchise in the summer. If the Clippers want to fight for a title in their first season at the Intuit Dome, they’ll need Leonard back ASAP.
The franchise doesn’t have a Christmas Game this year, but they face tough teams like the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, and Dallas Mavericks (2x) before Christmas and they could use Kawhi in those matchups.
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