Kawhi Leonard is doubtful for the Los Angeles Clippers’ two-game road trip due to the back spasms that restricted him to just 12 minutes in the 118-100 defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Leonard was unable to see out the first half against Minnesota, scoring six points in a shortened outing, and his status is uncertain for the games against the Chicago Bulls on Thursday and the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday.
Read our other NFL free agency news stories here:
Vikings snap up Jones
Barkley joining Eagles as Swift departs for Chicago
Kirk Cousins: Quarterback leaving Vikings for Falcons in shock move
Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said: “I wasn’t sure if he was going to go this morning. But he came to shootaround, got some treatment, did what he had to do and tried to get on the court and played today. It just didn’t loosen up for him.”
Asked if he will be fit to fly today, Lee added: “I hope so.”
A shoulder injury for James Harden has deepened Lue’s concerns and he was frustrated his side collapsed after Leonard exited, especially given the Timberwolves were without their own star in Karl-Anthony Towns.
He added: “They’re a good team without KAT. They are going to make runs, and we can’t drop our heads and feel sorry for ourselves.
“But just being mentally tougher when things are not going good. There’s a lot of things we didn’t do great. They played tougher than we did, for sure.
Final pic.twitter.com/kbu7oCoNq7
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) March 13, 2024
“No doubt pisses me off when it comes to that. Just being mentally tougher when stuff gets hard. You got to get tougher.
“We can talk about schemes, we can talk about a lot of other things, but we just got to be tougher mentally, and physically got to be better.”
Anthony Edwards scored 30 points for the Wolves with Nickeil Alexander-Walker adding 25.
