LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard is set to make his season debut for the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night against the Atlanta Hawks at the Intuit Dome.
Coach Tyronn Lue confirmed that Leonard will be in the starting lineup during his pregame press conference.
The Clippers initially announced Leonard would be out due to “right knee injury recovery’ on the team’s Friday evening injury report but his status was upgraded to questionable hours later.
“Just making sure we are taking it slow,” Lue said about Leonard’s availability as he makes his return to the court. “This is like his preseason and his training camp because he didn’t have that.”
Leonard is expected to be on a minutes restriction against the Hawks but Lue did not want to commit publicly to an exact number.
The six-time All-Star was spotted during pregame warmups taking shots as fans began filing into the arena.
Leonard missed the first 34 games of the season but the Clippers managed to produce a 19-15 record in his absence behind the efforts of James Harden and Norman Powell.
Leonard was a full-contact participant for Clippers’ practices starting Dec. 18, which fueled speculation that the two-time Defensive Player of the Year was close to making a return. The San Diego State alum spent the last few days working with the team’s G League affiliate in San Diego and participating in 5-on-5 scrimmages.
During the Clippers’ media day session in September, Leonard consistently told reporters that he hoped to remain healthy enough to have a run in the playoffs. He signed a three-year, $153 million deal in January and felt he was coming off a ‘good’ season in 2023-24.
He averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 68 games last season, the most he has played since playing a career-high 74 games during the 2016-17 season. Leonard was limited to 52 games throughout the 2022-23 season and missed the 2021-22 season due to an ACL injury.
