Report: Kawhi Leonard expected to return for Clippers before Christmas

Much of Kawhi Leonard’s tenure with the Los Angeles Clippers has been marred by injury, and he has yet to make his season debut for the team thanks to a right knee injury.

However, Bill Simmons of The Ringer said recently that he was told Leonard will make his return to the lineup for the Clippers prior to Christmas.

The Clippers are not one of the 10 NBA teams scheduled to play on the holiday.

The Clippers have done a commendable job of staying afloat in the Western Conference standings without their best player on the floor. At 14-10 on the season, Los Angeles owns the No. 7 seed in the conference.

Plus, Los Angeles is in a position where it could realistically jump a few spots in the West once Leonard logs some games under his belt. The Clippers are just three-and-a-half games behind the Oklahoma City Thunder for the conference’s best record and two games back of the Houston Rockets, who hold the No. 2 seed and an impressive record of 15-7.

Guard Norman Powell has stepped up massively in Leonard’s absence. He has spent much of his time in the NBA as a bench scorer but has made the most of his starts with the Clippers. Across 17 games played (all starts) this season, he’s scoring a team-high 23.9 points per contest while shooting the ball with commendable efficiency, as 50.5 percent of his shots from the field and 50.7 percent of his 3s have found the bottom of the net.

Powell had one of his top scoring showings of the campaign so far not too long ago against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 3. He totaled 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-7 from deep in a a game the Clippers won by 22 points.

Big man Ivica Zubac is another member of the Clippers who’s in the middle of a career year. The center is averaging career-highs in points (14.5), rebounds (12.2) and assists (2.4) per contest, and he’s played in every one of Los Angeles’ 24 games thus far.

Powell and Zubac will try to help Los Angeles avoid a second consecutive loss when the team takes on the Rockets on Dec. 8.