Clippers reportedly target Jan. 4 vs. Hawks for Kawhi Leonard’s return to play

The Los Angeles Clippers have been good this season: 18-13, sitting fifth in the Western Conference thanks to a top-five defense and enough offense from James Harden and Norman Powell to win games.

They will get Kawhi Leonard back in a week if everything goes according to plan. Leonard has been back practicing with the team since Dec. 18, and his target return date is Jan. 4, reports Law Murray of the Athletic. Leonard has been out all season due to inflammation in his right knee and will have missed 34 games before his return if he hits the target date.

Here is what coach Tyronn Lue said about Leonard after the Clippers shootaround on Friday, talking about how he has to play more 5-on-5 before the team’s medical staff will clear him.

“I mean, it’s hard to get those [5×5 practice] days because we have three games and four nights coming up. So he won’t travel, he won’t go on the trip, and so he’ll stay back, and he’ll practice with our G league team, to be able to get those reps in, and to get those 5×5 games in…

“He doesn’t like to play 5×5 a lot outside of the games, but this is very important to the medical staff, to Lawrence [Frank, team president], to our group as well, just making sure he’s getting the right amount of reps, making sure he’s doing everything, so this isn’t a recurring thing, so we can kind of monitor the fluid and see how it’s working. So so far, it’s been really good.”

That Clippers road trip is back-to-back Monday and Tuesday at New Orleans and San Antonio, followed by facing Oklahoma City on Thursday.

If the Clippers get the Leonard we saw last season, they become much more dangerous. That Leonard was a Second Team All-NBA player who averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.6 steals a night, shot 41.7% on 3-pointers (62.6% true shooting) and played high-level defense. That Leonard next to Harden should boost the Clippers’ bottom 10 offense and make them that much more dangerous.