The Los Angeles Clippers will once again be without several key rotation players as they prepare to face the Orlando Magic on Thursday. The team announced that Kawhi Leonard, Jordan Miller, and Derrick Jones Jr. are all ruled out, extending a frustrating stretch of injuries that has tested the Clippers’ depth early in the season. For Leonard in particular, the prolonged absence is becoming a growing concern.
“Kawhi Leonard is out tomorrow against Orlando,” reported Joey Linn on Wednesday. “It’s his ninth straight missed game.”
With Leonard sidelined (right ankle sprain), the Clippers continue to lean heavily on James Harden to carry the offensive load. The team has struggled to find consistency without its star forward, and each missed game adds more uncertainty about when Leonard will finally be able to return. His availability has always been a key factor in Los Angeles’ long-term outlook, and this latest stretch only amplifies the pressure.
Leonard, 34, has missed all but six games this season, and his stats are down across the board to 24.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 3.5 assists on 50.5 percent shooting and 40.0 percent shooting from three. The Clippers are 4-10 on the season so far with no timetable for Kawhi’s return.
Sadly, this has been a recurring theme for the Clippers ever since Leonard arrived in 2019. He consistently finds himself sidelined, and he is often described as the most unreliable superstar in the NBA.
Kawhi’s habits run so deep that he even secured an exclusive “no-show” endorsement contract from a fraudulent tree company to get paid millions for doing nothing.
Leonard’s repeated absences are difficult to excuse at this point, and the patience of Clippers fans has already worn thin. Now that he is set to miss his ninth straight game, many are calling for an end to this cycle by wiping the slate clean and starting over once again.
Ultimately, with two years and 100.3 million dollars left on his contract, Kawhi’s future is far from guaranteed. Unless he can start suiting up more consistently for the Clippers, things are trending downward between Leonard and the franchise.
By all accounts, everything rides on this season for Leonard, for whom the Clippers have sacrificed so much. They traded everything to get him, including Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and only he can carry them where the franchise has never been before.
At the end of the day, the Clippers signed Kawhi to win, and he has yet to deliver on that mission. Promises were made before opening night, and if those are not met, things could get ugly for everyone in the organization. That is not to mention the ongoing Aspiration scandal that could cost the Clippers multiple draft picks.
In many ways, it is title or bust for the Clippers this season, and with the way things are trending now, the writing may already be on the wall.
Anything short of a deep postseason run will only intensify the scrutiny on Leonard and the Clippers, and patience is running out on both sides. This season may be the final chance to justify the franchise’s investment, and the pressure surrounding Kawhi will only grow the longer he remains unavailable. For a team built to win now, time is quickly becoming their biggest enemy.
