Kawhi Leonard competes in full-contact Clippers practice, inches toward playing
Clippers All-Star Kawhi Leonard participated in the “contact” part of practice for the first time this season on Wednesday, but coach Tyronn Lue said there still isn’t a timetable for the return of the team’s best player, who has been out all season as he manages a right knee injury.
Leonard will travel with the Clippers for games at Dallas (Thursday and Saturday) and at Memphis (Monday), but he will not play in any of those games, Lue said. The Clippers then return home to play Golden State at Intuit Dome on Dec. 27.
“Well, he practiced today, five-on-five with contact,” Lue said Wednesday. “So, good seeing him out there doing that. It came out good. So, just continue the process and making sure we’re checking every box before he returns to play. … He’s going to travel, yes, but he will not play on this trip.”
Lue said the Clippers have days off to practice during the trip. Leonard could participate in those practices and will do rehabilitation work with the team’s medical staff.
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It will be Leonard’s first trip of the regular season, his last since traveling with the team to Hawaii for training camp at the end of September.
“Just the same thing, just progressing,” Lue said about what the Clippers want to see out of Leonard on the road. “Just keep checking the boxes, making sure that 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. And he can get a lot of rehab and stuff done on the road with our team. That’s why he’s making the trip.”
Leonard has ramped up his practices in the last few weeks.
He last played in a game for the Clippers in Game 4 of a first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks on April 26.
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“I can see him getting more excited,” Lue said. “He’s been putting in a lot of work to get to this point. So, today to do five-on-five with contact was a huge step for him. Like I said, we got to keep doing what we’re doing right now. The medical staff has been great. He’s great at putting in the work. So now we just got to continue to build off of it.”
Leonard has been viewed as 100% clear to participate in the practice sessions, but the Clippers still are being cautious.
“Yeah, he feels good,” Lue said. “We just got to make sure he continues to feel good. We don’t want anything where it’s one or two days and then it’s back to where he was at. So, that’s why we are taking the process slow. That’s why we are doing it the right way. He does feel good. So, we just got to make sure he can do it for long enough to check all these boxes, make sure the process is right and not just throw him back out there on the floor.”
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