Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is ruled out for Game 5 vs. Suns, as rumors spark of this being his last season in LA

Kawhi Leonard’s  injury has lingered on more than expected, as now he’s set to miss his third consecutive postseason match in Game 5 against Phoenix. As the series is now 3-1 in favor of the Suns, tonight’s contest might be the Clippers last of the campaign.  

On Monday night, the Los Angeles medical staff listed the foward as unavailable as the player is still recovering from a sprained knee that he suffered a week ago in Game 1 of the first round of playoffs.

Breaking: Kawhi Leonard is listed as out for Game 5 vs. the Suns. pic.twitter.com/smx7sjbv3h

— ESPN (@espn) April 25, 2023

The five-time All-Star has the same injury that has sidelined his teammate Paul George since over a month ago. This means that veteran star Russell Westbrook will have to face Kevin Durant and Devin Booker by himself tonight in Phoenix.

Although Leonard played through Game 2 of this series, it proved to be a bad idea considering that his condition got worse after that contest. Being injured is almost a traumatic state for the foward, especially after the 31-year-old missed all of last season as he recovered from a torn right ACL.

Kawhi, who was once a two-time NBA Finals MVP, has averaged 34.5 points, 6.5 rebounds and 6 assists in the first two matches against Phoenix last week. Throughout the season, he’s averaged 23.8 points (scoring 51.2% of his field goal attempts), 6.5 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game.

Leonard has reportedly ‘stopped communicating’ with players or coaches

The Los Angeles star has endured many challenges in the past few years, as injuries have had a serious impact on his career, especially unfortunate as they’ve come along in the worst moments possible.

Sport analyst Colin Cowherd has sparked a rumor that places Leonard outside of Los Angeles, mostly based upon the fact that he doesn’t communicate as well with his coaches or players on the squad.

“The Clippers were very physical in Game One but then by Game Three back to LA, guess who is not available? Kawhi Leonard.”, he said. “Every crisis in every business eventually has a tipping point and the Clippers have met there’s.”

Check out Monday’s episode of “The Herd” where the NBA insider ranted on about how it’s time for the Clippers to move on from Kawhi:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dmyRPgSiPw

“Kawhi is about to be 32, he is not about to become verbal, engaging, a great communicator, and healthy,” Cowherd pointed out. “It’s time to move off Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers do so many things right, they’ve got a great head coach, excellent executives, I love their owner, he’s one of the richest in the league, they’re building a new arena. But in two seasons, Leonard has played in 27 home games.”

“He’s just not available. He’s odd. He doesn’t communicate (I’ve been told) with coaches or players. This is who he is and Los Angeles is a very distracted market. It’s like a Chicago or New York but with better weather,” he concluded.