Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Los Angeles Clippers Make Big Decision on Kawhi Leonard’s Availability for Game 6

Originally posted on Hardwood Heroics
By Christian Alamodin | Last updated 5/3/24

The Los Angeles Clippers have a difficult task ahead of them. They need to take down a Dallas Mavericks squad firing on all cylinders throughout the season. Even with a fully healthy squad, the Clippers know that beating the Mavericks at the top of their game is not an easy task.

However, it doesn’t get any easier as Kawhi Leonard has not been present for most of the Clippers’ postseason games so far. Aside from a solid Game 2 effort, the Klaw had to sit out for much of his team’s games against the Mavericks.

With an important game up ahead for the Clippers, fans are anxious to know if their star player will be able to play for them. The news might break the hearts of fans, though.

Los Angeles Clippers won’t activate Kawhi Leonard for Game 6 vs Mavericks

The Clippers have decided that they won’t activate Kawhi for Game 6 despite it being a do-or-die situation for everyone involved. According to The Spun’s Andrew Gould, his knee injury has not recovered enough to make him ready to play.

Aside from Leonard, they might also miss another player in Terrence Mann who is dealing with lower leg contusion.

Kawhi is a big miss for the Clippers as he’s averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists a game through 68 regular-season games. Moreover, his defensive skills is vital in stopping either Luka Doncic or Kyrie Irving from making as many shots as they would have liked.

With Kawhi missing significant time in the playoffs, fans have started to question whether Leonard is actually committed to helping the Los Angeles Clippers win. Teammate Paul George dismissed those allegations on his podcast:

“You talk about someone that is all about playing playoff basketball and is all about—even if he’s not 100 percent, he wants to give whatever he can and he did that in Game 2,” George said on his podcast, via Bleacher Report. “Just to drown the noise of that whole narrative, he was literally shut down because I guess the higher-ups didn’t think that he was himself and didn’t want to further harm him by playing games that he was not a hundred percent on.

“So I just want to clear that up to all the fans out there: Kawhi is one of the most hardworking, down-to-put-it-all-on-the-line players that you can find.”

It will be a tall order for the Clippers to beat the Mavericks without their star man, but they have George and James Harden to count on to force a Game 7.

This article first appeared on Hardwood Heroics and was syndicated with permission.

More must-reads: