Kawhi Leonard injury update: Clippers star takes step toward return but won’t be back until after Christmas

The good news about Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard’s impending return: He participated in a 5-on-5 scrimmage and took contact on Wednesday, coach Tyronn Lue told reporters after practice, via Justin Russo of Russo Writes. 

The bad news: Leonard will not play on the Clippers’ upcoming three-game road trip, in which they will visit the Dallas Mavericks (twice) and the Memphis Grizzlies.

“He’s going to travel, yes,” Lue said. “He will not play on this trip.”

This means that Leonard, who has has missed the Clippers’ first 27 games in order to rehabilitate his right knee, will not make his season debut until after Christmas. The first game in which he could conceivably play is at home against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 27.

Last week, Leonard returned to practice, but didn’t take contact. While it was “good seeing him out there” in this context on Wednesday, the Clippers are “making sure when he gets done with the five-on-five with the contact, making sure he doesn’t have any swelling, making sure he doesn’t have any setbacks,” Lue told reporters. “He can get a lot of rehab and stuff done on the road with our team. That’s why he’s making the trip.”

Asked if Leonard is 100% healthy, Lue said, via The Athletic’s Law Murray: “Yeah, he feels good. So we just gotta make sure that he continues to feel good. We don’t want a thing where it’s one or two days and then he’s back to where he was at, so that’s why we’re taking the process slow, that’s why we’re doing it the right way. And he does feel good, so just gotta make sure he can do it for long enough to check all these boxes, make sure the process is right before we just throw him out there on the floor.”

Without Leonard — and without Paul George, who left for the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency last summer — the Clippers rank No. 20 on offense and No. 5 on defense this season, with a plus-2.4 net rating and a 15-12 record. James Harden has a 30% usage rate for the first time since 2019-20, and Norman Powell is averaging a career-high 23.5 points on 65% true shooting. Despite their best efforts, though, the team clearly needs more firepower. Leonard, if he can stay on the floor, will address that problem, and he’ll make them even tougher to score against.