Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal get injury updates ahead of season opener against Jazz

The Los Angeles Clippers will begin their 2025-26 regular season with a visit to Salt Lake City to face the Utah Jazz. Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Bealand Bogdan Bogdanović are the players with the most attention in terms of injury status at the beginning of the season.

So, what are the injury statuses of Kawhi Leonard, Bradley Beal and Bogdan Bogdanovic heading into night one?

Kawhi Leonard’s first healthy offseason

Leonard has dealt with a number of unfortunate injuries during his tenure with the Clippers, which means he’s had to rehabilitate just as much.

But after four straight summers dealing with injury or rehab — torn ACLs in 2021 and 2022, a torn meniscus in 2023 and knee inflammation in 2024 — Leonard just got through his first healthy offseason.

“It was exciting to be in the offseason and not going through rehab,” Leonard said entering training camp. “I was able to push my body to the limit of what I wanted to do without repercussions or dealing with a therapist or anything, so that was great for me. I was able to walk around and enjoy my summer.”

Kawhi Leonard has played in three of four preseason games with the Clippers and is ready to start the NBA season tonight against the Jazz. Leonard isn’t expected to face any minutes restrictions, but the Clippers will be smart about his workload early in games and throughout the year.

“I think the balance in the first half is important, and then in the second half, you go the way you need to go. So like at the beginning of the season, we don’t want to just throw guys on the ground. The first half is just to keep their minutes, and in the second half we’ll try to use them as needed. We’ll see those first 10 to 12 games and see how he feels.”

In the preseason, Leonard averaged 16.7 points on 48.5 percent shooting in 21.4 minutes per game while making six 3-pointers per game. It’s only the preseason, but averaging six three-point attempts would be a new career high for Leonard if he did it during the regular season.

Bradley Beal ready to open

Bradley Beal underwent arthroscopic knee surgery in May following the conclusion of his second season with the Phoenix Suns.

The Clippers’ rookie point guard had a healthy offseason rehabbing his knee and trying to work his way into shape, but he was limited to the start of training camp. Beal was partially involved in the scrimmage during the first half of camp, but stepped up his activity as the preseason progressed.

Beal played his first full game on Oct. 6 and was upgraded to be available for the Clippers’ final preseason game against the Warriors.

In just under 15 minutes, Beal had 12 points, two rebounds, one steal and one blocked shot on 6-of-9 shooting from the field. His three misses were from three, making him a perfect 6-of-6 from inside the arc.

“I think I did pretty well because I didn’t touch the floor all preseason, but I didn’t want to be super critical of myself,” Beal said of his lone game of the preseason. “There’s a lot of things I definitely could have been better at defensively and not turning the ball over a few times. But mostly I felt great moving. I think that’s the most important thing. My wind was better than I thought it would be. It was definitely a good start for sure.”

Bill said his plan has always been to be ready for opening night, and it seems everything is set for that. Beal was not listed on the Clippers’ injury report for Wednesday night’s season opener against the Jazz and should start alongside James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr. and Ivica Zubac.

Bogdan Bogdanović is ready to go despite his back injury

Bogdan Bogdanovic played just two minutes in the Clippers’ preseason opener against the Guangzhou Long-Lions on Oct. 9 before leaving with lower back pain. He was a limited participant until his return for the Clippers’ preseason finale against the Golden State Warriors on Oct. 17.

“It feels good, it feels good to be back in the team, to play with them,” Bogdanovic said of his return. “I’m fine overall. I can’t go back. I just have to look forward man. What happened, happened. Hopefully (the injury) doesn’t happen and we move forward. That’s part of the game.”

Bogdanovic is expected to be a significant cog in the wheel of the Clippers’ second unit. Chris Paul and Chris Dunn have handled the backcourt well, so Bogdanovic should step into the frontcourt with John Collins and Brook Lopez, assuming the team wants to keep Nicolas Batum’s work low early in the year.

Bogdanovic played 30 games with the Clippers after being acquired at the trade deadline. In 25 minutes on the night, the Serbian guard averaged 11.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.2 assists while shooting 47.4 percent from the field and 42.7 percent from three.