DENVER — On Wednesday, Kawhi Leonard departed from the Los Angeles Clippers in Denver to return to his family in Los Angeles. This decision came after his family had to evacuate their home in Pacific Palisades due to nearby wildfires.

“You have to prioritize family first,” stated Clippers coach Tyronn Lue, expressing his full support for Leonard’s decision. “He needed to go back and check on his family and children, ensuring they were safe. Thankfully, he returned, and they are doing well, which is a relief.”

Leonard made his comeback to the court recently, having participated in two games after sitting out the initial 34 games of the season while recovering from right knee surgery in the offseason. In his return match against Atlanta, he contributed 12 points to help secure a victory and followed that performance with a 10-point game in a loss to Minnesota on Monday night.

In the same game against the Clippers, Denver was missing their star center, Nikola Jokic, who was sidelined due to illness. Jokic had also been absent the previous night during a home defeat to Boston.