Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is expected to miss the road trip to Texas when his team faces the Rockets and Spurs as he continues to deal with stiffness in his surgically repaired right knee. This would push him to six straight games missed and his coach says the star wing is not happy.
“He’s frustrated,” Los Angeles coach Tyronn Lue said before the game against the Rockets on Monday, per ESPN. “He wants to be out on the floor and then not being on the floor, and then now he can’t travel. He wants to travel, but the doctor said it’s not the right thing to do right now with the stiffness and what he is going through.”
Leonard tore his ACL in Game 4 of the second round of the playoffs against the Jazz on June 14, 2021 and missed all of last season as a result. He made his return in two of the Clippers’ first three games of the season, logging 21 minutes in each off the bench. The stiffness began Oct. 25 at shootaround and he hasn’t played since. After the Texas road trip, the Clippers will host the Jazz on Sunday but it’s unknown if he’ll be able to make his return then.
“[Leonard is] just frustrated after putting in all the work the last 15 months,” Lue said. “And to get to this point and not being where he wants to be physically . . . but he is getting better and that is the most important thing.”
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