{"id":666134,"date":"2026-03-19T03:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666134\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T03:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T03:16:21","slug":"kawhi-leonard-cleared-to-play-against-pelicans-after-ankle-injury-recovery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/666134\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard Cleared to Play Against Pelicans After Ankle Injury Recovery"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Athlon<\/a>Wed, March 18, 2026 at 11:10 PM UTC<\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard<\/a> was sidelined for the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> on Monday as they suffered a 119-115 loss to Victor Wembanyama<\/a> and the San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Leonard injured his ankle on Saturday against the Sacramento Kings<\/a>. The seven-time All-Star left the game in the fourth quarter after tweaking his left ankle. Leonard was not able to return against the Kings and was also forced to miss<\/a> L.A.\u2019s next game due to the injury.<\/p>\n

The Clippers are back in action on Wednesday. They face off against the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> on the road as L.A. looks to bounce back after back-to-back losses.<\/p>\n

\"Los<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) against the Chicago Bulls.\u00a9 William Liang-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

(\u00a9 William Liang-Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Leonard has been nothing short of incredible for the Clippers this season. The two-time Defensive Player of the Year has played 53 games thus far, averaging a career-high 28.3 points on 50.1% shooting, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals in 32.3 minutes per contest. Leonard is also knocking down a career-best 2.6 triples per game on a 37.8% clip.<\/p>\n

The good news for the Clippers is that they will get their star back for Wednesday\u2019s matchup<\/a>. The team announced ahead of tip-off that Leonard will play against New Orleans.<\/p>\n

Leonard headed into Wednesday\u2019s game with a questionable tag. However, he has now been given the green light to return after a one-game absence.<\/p>\n

It is important to note that Wednesday\u2019s matchup is the front end of a back-to-back set for the Clippers. They will face the Pelicans again on Thursday at Smoothie King Center.<\/p>\n

L.A. enters Wednesday\u2019s contest with a 34-34 record. As of writing, they are eighth in the Western Conference, but are just one game ahead of the ninth-seeded Golden State Warriors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Related: James Harden Reveals Real Reason Behind Clippers-Cavaliers Trade<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was originally published by Athlon Sports<\/a> on Mar 18, 2026, where it first appeared in the NBA<\/a> section. Add Athlon Sports as a Preferred Source by clicking here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wed, March 18, 2026 at 11:10 PM UTC Kawhi Leonard was sidelined for the Los Angeles Clippers on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":666135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3796],"tags":[7,919,164,529,135,6,478,470,4073,4072,675,477,474,693],"class_list":{"0":"post-666134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-pelicans","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-golden-state-warriors","11":"tag-kawhi-leonard","12":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-new-orleans","15":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","16":"tag-neworleans","17":"tag-neworleanspelicans","18":"tag-pelicans","19":"tag-sacramento-kings","20":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","21":"tag-victor-wembanyama"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116253676441451725","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=666134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/666134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/666135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=666134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=666134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=666134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}