After missing a week due to a knee contusion suffered against the Houston Rockets, Kawhi Leonard is expected to return to the Los Angeles Clippers' lineup on Wednesday night against the Boston Celtics, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Ohm Youngmisuk.
His return, of course, means the wait is over. After nearly a month, we'll finally see Leonard and Paul George on the court together for the first time with the Clippers. The dynamic duo arrived in a stunning double-move this summer, which saw the Clippers sign Leonard to a max contract and swing a blockbuster trade to acquire George from the Oklahoma City Thunder in the middle of the night back in early July.
But George missed the first 11 games of the season as he continued rehabbing from surgery on both shoulders in the offseason, and just as he got healthy and returned to the lineup, Leonard went down with his knee contusion and has been unable to play.
While there has been plenty of debate already this season about the Clippers' load management plan for Leonard, which has included preventing him from playing both nights of back-to-backs, this injury was unrelated to his chronic quad issue. Not only was it a new knock, but Leonard's knee contusion was on his left knee, while his quad issue is in his right leg.
In any case, it will be great to have him back in the lineup, and to see how the new-look Clippers fare with their two stars together at last. Each player has looked fantastic during their time on the floor, so far, with Leonard putting up 26.8 points, 8.9 rebounds and six assists per game, while George set a number of Clippers records with his first few performances, and is coming off a game-winning 3-pointer on Monday night against the Thunder.
There may be some growing pains at first, as Leonard, George and the rest of the team adapts to the new situation, but with the skill sets of these two stars, any such problems shouldn't last long.
