The Los Angeles Clippers will only go as far as Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are able to take them. And while they may be able to advance past the Utah Jazz with only George leading the way, getting past the Phoenix Suns in a potential WCF series without Leonard would prove daunting.
Leonard missed Game 5 Wednesday night with what’s being reported as a right knee injury. He suffered the injury in the fourth quarter of Game 4 when he came up grimacing in pain. His status for the rest of the series is in question.
Somehow, the Clippers managed to get past Utah Wednesday night, despite being without Leonard. George poured in 37 to lead the way and take a 3-2 series lead.
Leonard’s availability is obviously of the upmost importance for the Clippers moving forward, though. And per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the outlook isn’t too promising.
“There’s no chance he’s playing in Game 6 or if there’s a Game 7 in this series. There’s not a lot of optimism that Kawhi Leonard is going to be in a place where he could play again even if the Clippers advance,” Wojnarowski said during Thursday’s edition of ESPN’s Get Up!.
Take a look.
“There’s not a lot of optimism that Kawhi Leonard is going to be in a place where he could play again even if the Clippers advance.”
—@wojespn pic.twitter.com/hi5cUfLhaS
— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) June 17, 2021
It sounds like the Clippers are going to have move forward without Kawhi Leonard for the foreseeable future. The pressure is on for Paul George to play at a high level.
He was up for the task Wednesday night when he scored 37 to lead the way for Los Angeles. He’ll need another big performance on Friday in Game 6 as the Clippers look to wrap up the series.
As for Leonard, it sounds like the NBA world will learn new information surrounding his injury over the next 24 to 48 hours.
The post Report: Latest Kawhi Leonard Update Doesn’t Sound Good appeared first on The Spun.
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