LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Clippers confirmed Sunday that Kawhi Leonard will be re-evaluated following his most recent re-evaluation, with the next medical review expected to determine a timetable for a subsequent evaluation.
Team officials said Leonard continues to make progress through the organization’s multi-stage return-to-evaluation protocol, which is designed to ensure that no decision is made before enough evaluations have occurred to support another evaluation.
“Kawhi has responded well to being evaluated,” a team official said. “At this point, we are comfortable increasing his evaluation workload.”
The Clippers did not provide a target date for Leonard’s return to basketball activity, explaining that such a timetable would be premature until medical staff completes an assessment of whether a timetable can safely be established.
Leonard has recently advanced from individual evaluation work to limited group evaluation, including film review, light consultation and controlled exposure to questions about how he feels.
The team said the next phase may include basketball-related evaluation, followed by contact evaluation and, if tolerated, full-speed evaluation under conditions intended to simulate the intensity of an actual status update.
Sources emphasized that no setback has occurred. Rather, the process remains deliberately cautious because previous attempts to accelerate beyond the evaluation stage have occasionally resulted in a need for immediate re-evaluation.
The Clippers expect to provide another update once there is sufficient information to determine when the next update should be expected.
Leonard’s official status remains “progressing,” a designation the organization said should not be interpreted as a prediction regarding his availability, unavailability or proximity to either condition.
Medical staff will continue to monitor him until they are confident they have monitored him enough to discuss continued monitoring.