Lakers News: Injury Report For Tonight's Battle Of L.A.

Kawhi Leonard returns for his first NBA game since June 2021.

Lakers-Clippers. Even two short seasons ago, such a matchup would have gotten basketball nerds and even casuals salivating. When the dust had settled on the league-altering summer of 2019, in which  Anthony Davis, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Jimmy Butler, Paul George, and Kyrie Irving all joined new teams, the entire basketball world assumed both Los Angeles franchises -- with the Lakers now fielding a roster with LeBron James and Davis and the Clippers having grabbed Leonard and George -- would be battling for the soul of Tinseltown for many years to come.

It was not to be.

Part of that, of course, stems from the fact that Los Angeles is probably always going to be Lakers country. Clippers games have long been opportunities for transplants to the City of Angels to get good see to watch their hometown teams. The team has never been able to successfully take root in the culture to the level that the 17-time champs have. To be fair, how could it ever really hope to compete?

The James and Davis-fronted Lakers enjoyed two season of formidability before Rob Pelinka shipped out all his role players for the flotsam that's flooded the roster since 2021. 

Leonard and George's Clippers, meanwhile, flamed out in a hilarious 2020 Western Conference Semifinals collapse after leading the series 3-1 (they would have faced the Lakers in the Conference Finals), then clawed their way to the 2021 Western Conference Finals. Unfortunately, Leonard had torn his ACL in the 2021 Conference Semis, and without their best player, the Clippers fell to the Phoenix Suns. Both Leonard and George were shelved with injuries for the 2022 postseason, and thus the eighth-seeded Clippers were bested by the Minnesota Timberwolves and the New Orleans Pelicans across successive play-in tournament bouts.

Now, Leonard and George are leading perhaps the single-deepest team in the NBA, a club that could legitimately go 11-12 men deep. On the other end of the expectations spectrum, the Lakers would be happy to make the play-in tournament this year, with a roster of ill-fitting role players (including one making $47.1 million this year) surrounding James and Davis. 

The Lakers are technically "hosting" tonight's game, which takes place on the home floor of both clubs, Crypto.com Arena. But even with the advantage of being packed with Lakers fanatics, the Clippers should be heavy favorites to win tonight.

On the injury front, the Lakers will be without center Thomas Bryant and point guard Dennis Schroder, both recovering from thumb surgeries. Troy Brown Jr., who has been out since training camp with a back injury, remains out as well, though he's a fringe rotation player at best. Jovan Buha of The Athletic adds that James and Davis, both already dealing with minor injuries, are probable to play tonight.

Two-way Lakers rookie forward Cole Swider will also be sidelined with a sore right foot, per Mike Trudell of Spectrum SportsNet.

Starting Clippers point guard Reggie Jackson is dealing with a sore right groin, but is expected to play, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. In an interesting wrinkle, Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the Clippers will bring Leonard in as a reserve to limit his minutes a bit within the rotation. Given all that he's achieved, this writer wonders why L.A. wouldn't at least allow him to start, and then just be careful to monitor how much run he gets before the fourth quarter. But I'll defer to Ty Lue.