Is Kawhi Leonard playing tonight against the Suns? Latest injury update on Clippers star ahead of matchup (25th April 2023)
Kawhi Leonard was playing lights-out in the first-round series against the Suns as he was averaging 34.5 points on 54.5% shooting, including 60.0% from 3-point range, 6.5 rebounds and 6.0 assists, before suffering a right knee sprain.
With his right knee sprain and Game 5 on the road at Phoenix, Kawhi Leonard will miss his third straight game of the series in a do-or-die situation for the Clippers.
Similar to Leonard's situation, Paul George is also dealing with a right knee sprain that he sustained in a matchup against the OKC Thunder on March 21, causing him to miss the entire first-round series.
Coming off Games 1 and 2 against the Suns, it felt like the matchup between the two teams would go down to the wire. Unfortunately, with Leonard and George unavailable to stay fit, the Suns were able to take full advantage of a depleted Clippers roster that had to rely on Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell.
Following the Clippers' loss in Game 3, Russell Westbrook gave his thoughts on the unfortunate timing of Kawhi Leonard's injury.
"I just felt sorry for him," Westbrook said. "He was probably playing his best basketball, probably the best in the world honestly. For him mentally, that’s the first thing I go to. But it was good to see him be around and communicate with us on the bench."
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George's playoff history with the Clippers
When both Leonard and George arrived in the Clippers organization, they were met with huge expectations of deep playoff runs and multiple championships.
However, in their four seasons together, they have only managed to go as far as the Western Conference finals during the 2020-21 season against the Phoenix Suns.
In their first season, they went six games with Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks to advance to the semifinals round against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. They were 3-1 up in that series and still ended up dropping their last three games in disappointing fashion.
During their second season, Kawhi Leonard suffered an ACL injury before the matchup with the Suns in the Western Conference finals began. Paul George and the Clippers took them to six games as they were no match for Devin Booker and Chris Paul.
In their third season, Leonard missed the entire 2021-22 season as he was recovering from his ACL injury and George ended up missing the play-in matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans due to health and safety protocols. The Clippers ended up missing a spot in the playoffs.
Now, with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George out of the first-round series against the Suns, it'll be interesting to see how things will develop for both stars regarding their future with the Clippers.