The Los Angeles Clippers will be forced to play yet another game without their superstar, as the team announced Wednesday that Kawhi Leonard -- who's rehabbing a knee sprain -- has been ruled out for Thursday night's Game 3 against the Phoenix Suns at Staples Center.
And Sports Illustrated senior writer Howard Beck is convinced that Leonard has already played his last game this season.
"If the problem was, 'Oh, we just need the swelling to go down so we can get an accurate read from the MRI,' you'd know by now," Beck told The DA Show on Thursday. "The fact there's been no update whatsoever on Kawhi Leonard implies to me, heavily implies to me -- and this isn't a report, this isn't inside knowledge -- but I think it's safe to say if we haven't heard anything by now, it's probably worse than what they're leading on.
"That sprain... because a sprain is a small tear. And so, the question with the ACL is, how much of a tear is it? Well, it's probably more than what they've led on. And as I say, if we haven't heard anything by now -- a week later -- then my guess is it's because it's worse than what they've led on and he's not coming back."
Leonard last took the floor on June 14, in the Clippers' Game 4 win over the Utah Jazz in the West semifinals. Through 11 games this postseason, the five-time All-Star is averaging 30.4 points with 7.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists.
Los Angeles, which fell into a third consecutive 0-2 series deficit on Tuesday, will play Game 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET. According to FiveThirtyEight's projections, the Clippers have an 11-percent chance of advancing to their first NBA Finals.
The entire NBA conversation between Beck and DA can be accessed in the audio and video players above.
You can follow The DA Show on Twitter @DAonCBS and @CBSSportsRadio, and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.