Kawhi Leonard Out For Game 5, Possibly Rest Of Series: What Does This Mean For The Los Angeles Clippers?

What Happened: Los Angeles Clippers’ first-team All-NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard is out for game five Wednesday night against the Utah Jazz and is in danger of missing the rest of the series, according to ESPN, which is owned by Walt Disney Co. DIS. Leonard hurt his right knee in the fourth quarter of the game four win on Monday.

Why It Matters: Leonard has been an absolute stud these playoffs, averaging 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists on .573/.393/.880 shooting splits. The Clippers are already shorthanded, missing Serge Ibaka, who had back surgery last week, and are seeing Paul George revert back to Playoff P.

The Utah Jazz were the NBA’s best team in the regular season, led by their three All-Stars Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Mike Conley. If Leonard indeed misses the rest of the series, it will be very difficult for the Clippers to pull off a victory.

This isn’t the first right knee injury for Leonard as he missed most of 2017 with a quad tendon injury in that knee.

Leonard has the option to opt-out of his contract at the end of the season and with the Clippers struggling so much both this year and last, it is a very real possibility Leonard departs this offseason.

Draft Odds: Prior to the announcement of Leonard’s injury, the Jazz were -2.5 favorites, but now they're -7. Both Draftkings Inc DKNG and the Barstool Sportsbook have removed Western Conference and NBA Championship futures as a result of this and the Chris Paul news.

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