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INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Los Angeles Clippers guard Bradley Beal is done for the season. Kawhi Leonard has an ankle and a foot sprain with no timetable to return.
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Beal has a hip fracture and will undergo surgery next week, the team announced Wednesday. He is expected to make a full recovery in six to nine months.
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“This is a very, very fluky injury,” Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, said. “The surgeon said it’s almost like the equivalent of if you were in like a car accident. It’s an atypical kind of basketball injury. It’s more of an acute trauma-type injury.”
Leonard missed his fifth game of the season with a sprained right ankle Wednesday night against the Denver Nuggets.
“It wasn’t just an ankle sprain,” Frank said when asked for an update on Leonard. “He also had a significant sprain in his foot as well. He’s making really good progress.”
Leonard is receiving treatment multiple times daily and will accompany the team on its upcoming seven-game trip starting Friday at Dallas.
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Beal got hurt last Saturday in the second quarter against Phoenix, his former team, at Intuit Dome. He had an MRI the next day and then a CT scan confirmed the fracture.
“He feels like he’s let us down by being hurt. He feels horrible he’s not there for his teammates,” Frank said. “He was hoping to have a really, really good year.”
The three-time All-Star played in just six games this season, averaging 8.2 points and 1.7 assists. He signed an $11 million, two-year deal with the Clippers in July after the final two years of his contract were bought out by the Suns.
The 32-year-old had already missed games because of a left knee injury that pre-dated his tenure with the Clippers, as well as lower back soreness. He was on a minutes restriction while trying to lower inflammation in his knee, Frank said.
“It’s tough for our guys to hear about this,” coach Tyronn Lue said, “especially from a guy that’s a great guy and tried everything he could to get back on the floor.”
Beal’s two seasons in Phoenix were riddled by injury. The 14-year veteran hasn’t played at least 60 games in a season since 2020-21 when he was with the Washington Wizards.
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