LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard pulled up to Crypto.com Arena 95 minutes before tip-off Thursday.
In front of his locker, a red-and-black pair of his New Balance signature sneaker sat expectantly.
Yet the All-Star wing around whom the Los Angeles Clippers have oriented their franchise for four years did not suit up — and the Clippers left their 129-124 loss to Phoenix in Game 3 not knowing whether he will again this season.
Leonard sprained his right knee late in the team’s series-opening victory against the Suns on Saturday and played 39 minutes in a loss two days later but when “things didn’t get better, they got worse,” president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said, the team sidelined him.
Frank echoed what a team source not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said earlier Thursday: That Leonard is considered day-to-day, his availability to return for Saturday’s Game 4 hinging on the results as the injury is reevaluated.
For those believing in body language, Leonard did not walk with any noticeable limp upon his entry.
The team believes the injury isn’t related to the torn anterior cruciate ligament that sidelined him the entire 2021-22 season, though Frank declined to offer details about the severity of the sprain and what benchmarks Leonard will need to pass in order to be cleared.
“You can imagine he’s extremely, extremely disappointed he is not going to play tonight,” Frank said before tip-off. “He desperately wants to play.”
Coach Tyronn Lue learned Leonard had aggravated the knee Wednesday evening, but said he did not know Leonard would be sidelined until shortly before the team’s shootaround Thursday morning, about 10 hours before tipoff.
“He’s frustrated, his spirits are down, but like I said, we’ll hold him down and hopefully we get him back sooner than later,” Lue said.
At the team’s shootaround, as adjustments to the game plan were installed, players called the mood upbeat despite their thinning roster.
All-Star wing Paul George “continues to work his butt off and make progress daily” from his right knee sprain suffered in late March, Frank said, but remains out without a timetable to return.
Yet the mood didn’t change the reality of the enormous void left by the absence of Leonard, who had scored or assisted on 45% of the Clippers’ points during the first two games and guarded Suns star Kevin Durant on a team-high 53 possessions.
It was apt that the blue T-shirts draped across the arena seats as a giveaway bore the message “All Hands.”
Their margin for error was already slim enough without George.
Without Leonard, too, they would need contributions from everyone to survive Game 3, let alone the rest of the series.
Unlike a March 31 victory in Memphis that marked the Clippers’ only game without Leonard and George since remaking their roster in February, Lue did not start Terance Mann in place of Leonard, slotting guard Norman Powell instead.
Within five minutes, they had as many turnovers as points (six), a stretch that showed the limitations of frenetic energy alone.
But with Leonard and George watching from the sideline, the Clippers scored six consecutive points, allowed the Suns a dozen straight, only to respond with a 14-2 run.
When Lue noted before tip-off that he would be forced to “do some things different,” he was not kidding.
Former starting forward Marcus Morris Sr., who had not played since March 25, checked in late in the first quarter and banked a buzzer-beating three-pointer to force a 27-all tie.
To start the second quarter, Morris stayed in as part of a lineup that featured another little-used forward who had yet to play in the series’ first two games — Robert Covington.
Provided openings to pull ahead by Phoenix throughout the first half, the Clippers trailed by three after repeated failures to take advantage.
Before halftime, the problem was turnovers. Of their 12 first-half turnovers, Russell Westbrook was responsible for five.
The mistakes marred a half in which Powell scored 22 points.
The source of their struggles that eventually put them in a 13-point, third-quarter hole was their inability to defend without fouling.
A relatively paltry share of Phoenix’s regular-season offense came at the free-throw line, where they ranked in the league’s bottom third.
Yet the Suns attempted 21 third-quarter free throws, 17 more than the Clippers, and only a few of the fouls were intentional as the Clippers targeted poor shooter Bismack Biyombo, preferring he take two free throws than Kevin Durant or Devin Booker one jumper.
