Paul George and Luke Kennard won’t be playing for the Los Angeles Clippers in their upcoming back-to-back games against the Portland Trail Blazers and the Utah Jazz as they wait to find out if Kawhi Leonard will experience the same fate.
Leonard and George have missed the last three and four games, respectively, with the former suffering from a hamstring tendon injury and the latter from an ankle sprain. Kennard has been out the longest of the three with a right calf strain, missing the past six games.
Ivica Zubac’s 31 and 29 game against the Indiana Pacers continues to serve as the most recent example of this team’s “next man up” mentality. It compounds a start to the season; the Clippers have yet to be able to field their most vital players on a regular schedule, even though some highlights along the way during their 12-9 run.
Coach Tyronn Lue is said to have stressed that while his best shooters are out, being able to pass the ball to players like John Wall, Norman Powell, and Reggie Jackson is a good thing. The idea is that when the team’s key players come back, those backup players will have found their rhythm.
For a team that hasn’t entirely been managed to get healthy since they made the significant trade for George and Leonard, which was intended to propel them into championship contention, Clippers supporters could be excused for thinking it’s a familiar story.
Leonard, in particular, has already missed a lot of time, so it will be challenging to believe Lue when he says that none of the absentees are long-term and that they will miss one or two games at a time.