After resting Wednesday against the Utah Jazz due to load management, Kawhi Leonard will play in the LA Clippers’ meeting with the San Antonio Spurs.
Per the LA Clippers’ injury report, it appears that Kawhi Leonard will be returning to the floor for Thursday night’s matchup with the San Antonio Spurs.
Before Wednesday night’s loss to the Utah Jazz, Leonard was listed as “Out: Load Management — Knee”. On tonight’s report, Leonard’s name is absent — and so is Rodney McGruder‘s, who made his LA Clippers debut against Utah last night.
Leonard’s availability was also confirmed by The Athletic’s Jovan Buha.
Leonard, who was a member of the Spurs from 2011-2018, appeared in both of the Toronto Raptors’ matchups with San Antonio last season. Leonard averaged 23.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 33 minutes per game against his former team.
LA will likely need every bit of Leonard they can get tonight, as the Spurs are one of only two remaining undefeated teams in the NBA, the other being the Philadelphia 76ers.
San Antonio is led by DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, both of whom are scoring over 20 points per game so far this season. Their Spurs have played the fewest amount of games so far, but took down the Portland Trail Blazers in their most recent outing, which is no easy task.
Outside of Aldridge and DeRozan, the Clippers will want to stay focused on defending Dejounte Murray, Bryn Forbes and Derrick White, who have all been some of San Antonio’s best offensive players in the early goings.
The Clippers are expected to go with their usual starting group, which goes as follows:
- PG: Patrick Beverley
- SG: Landry Shamet
- SF: Kawhi Leonard
- PF: Patrick Patterson
- C: Ivica Zubac
Beverley, Shamet, Leonard and Zubac were all expected to be locked into the starting rotation before the season began, but Patterson’s constant inclusion has been a surprise thus far.
Patterson had the two worst seasons of his career with the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2017-2019, so when the Clippers picked him up this summer, few expected him to see a large number of minutes.
Patterson has enjoyed a resurgence with the Clippers though, becoming a serious three-and-D threat that meshes nicely with the rest of the starting group. Through his first five games, he’s averaging 7.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists while shooting a ridiculous 47.6 percent from three-point range on 4.2 attempts per game.
His defense will be tested against Aldridge tonight, but the Clippers have several options behind him if things start to go awry.
The LA Clippers and San Antonio Spurs will tip-off tonight at 7:30 p.m. PDT at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, CA. Be sure to follow along with us @ClipperholicsFS on Twitter for live updates and analysis!