Kawhi Leonard Won’t Play On Wednesday

The Clippers will hold Kawhi Leonard out of Wednesday’s game vs. the Jazz, according to head coach Doc Rivers, who told reporters today that the star forward will be back in L.A.’s lineup on Thursday vs. San Antonio (Twitter link via Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com).

This is the first time in Leonard’s brief tenure as a Clipper that he will miss a game for load-management purposes, though it likely won’t be the last. The reigning Finals MVP only appeared in 60 games last season as the Raptors held him out of one end of back-to-backs and a few other contests.

Rivers said in September that he didn’t anticipate Leonard being on as strict a load-management plan for the 2019/20 season. However, it was clear he didn’t expect Kawhi to play in all 82 games.

This is the Clippers’ first back-to-back set of the year, so it’ll be interesting to see whether he also misses a game during the team’s next back-to-back — Rivers said today that the club will evaluate that on a “case-by-case” basis (Twitter link via MacMahon).

The Clips are scheduled to host the Bucks next Wednesday, followed by the Trail Blazers on Thursday. They have another back-to-back on tap for November 13 and 14 in Houston and New Orleans. Paul George may have returned to action by that time.

Leonard’s official listing for tonight’s game is “out – load management, knee,” per Jovan Buha of The Athletic (Twitter link). As MacMahon notes (via Twitter), the NBA is requiring a specific body part to be listed this season, rather than just “load management.” The former Raptor reportedly battled a sore left knee during the team’s championship run in the spring, so the Clippers presumably want to limit the risk of that issue flaring up again.