One awkward landing and suddenly the Clippers’ resurrected season was on the precipice, supported by a wobbly ankle.
Kawhi Leonard, arguably the NBA’s best player over the past three months, sprained his left ankle in the fourth quarter of Saturday night’s loss to the Sacramento Kings. Suddenly, his availability and the season seemed uncertain.
But the injury doesn’t appear that it will keep him out for any length of time, as he is listed as doubtful for Monday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.
Behind the strong play of Leonard, the Clippers (34-33) recently reached and pushed above the .500 mark after starting the season at 6-21. They currently occupy eighth place in the Western Conference, still 6½ games out of a top-six spot but two games ahead of ninth-place Golden State and in zero danger of falling out of a Play-In Tournament spot (seeds 7-10).
Leonard was guarding Kings star DeMar DeRozan when he landed awkwardly before backpedaling and tumbling to the court. The future Hall of Famer jumped up quickly but limped noticeably to the Clippers’ bench before heading to the locker room with 9:27 left in the game.
The Clippers have just 15 regular-season games remaining, starting with Monday’s matchup against the second-place Spurs (49-18), who have won eight of their past 10 games. For the Clippers to have any chance at making noise in the postseason, they need a healthy Leonard.
“Obviously, I never like to see that dude in pain,” forward John Collins said. “I feel like Kawhi’s been an MVP candidate, been an amazing leader, uber important for our organization all year. So, I hate it. I don’t like to see it.”
If Leonard is unavailable or on a minutes restriction for any stretch of games, the Clippers will rely on guards Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin to lead the offense. Nicolas Batum, Kobe Sanders and Jordan Miller could also see increased minutes until Leonard returns.
After missing 10 games in November because of foot and right ankle injuries, Leonard returned and was having a career-best season, averaging 28.3 points (sixth-best in the league), 6.3 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals while shooting 50.1% from the field in 53 games.
He has scored at least 20 points in his last 45 games, including 31 against the Kings, surpassing Bob McAdoo to become the franchise leader in consecutive 20-point games.
In his past 10 games, the seven-time All-Star has been averaging 30.5 points on 54.1% shooting from the field and 85.5% from the free-throw line to go with 6.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals.
Injuries have marked Leonard’s career. He missed the first 34 games last season because of inflammation in his right knee and appeared in only 37 games.
COLLINS RETURNS
Collins had 10 points, three rebounds, two steals and one blocked shot in his first game back from a neck strain caused by two different head injuries.
On Feb. 20, Collins was undercut by Lakers center Jaxson Hayes, sending the Clippers forward crashing to the court and striking his head hard on the court. He missed nine games because of a sore neck and head laceration.
He suffered another hit to the head against the New Orleans Pelicans on March 1 that exacerbated his sore neck and caused him to miss another seven games.
“It was just a funky process,” Collins said. “Again, it could have been a lot worse on the injury side, but I just tried to stay positive and come in every day, bringing good energy and again, continue to try to just keep my body ready as well as I could.”
SPURS AT CLIPPERS
When: Monday, 7 p.m.
Where: Intuit Dome
TV/Radio: FDSN SoCal, Peacock/570 AM
