A battle of former Toronto Raptors teammates has been postponed as the Los Angeles Clippers' Kawhi Leonard and the Miami Heat's Kyle Lowry will both sit out their Thursday night matchup.
The teams announced their stars will sit out the game to get some rest.
This will be the first game veteran point guard Lowry misses this season, having been the only player on the Heat to have played in all 25 games.
The Heat have been dealing with injuries throughout their roster. However, Tyler Herro, Jimmy Butler and Max Strus have been upgraded to game-time decisions and have given coach Erik Spoelstra more leeway to give his point guard some rest.
Backup point guard Gabe Vincent remains out with a knee injury, leaving Dru Smith as the only true point guard available for the Heat.
Lowry has averaged 14.4 points, 5.0 rebounds and 6.0 assists per game this season. In Miami's last game, on Tuesday against the Detroit Pistons, the former Raptor had five steals.
Leonard's rest comes after having played the first leg of a back-to-back on Wednesday against the Orlando Magic.
Leonard has missed 19 games for the Clippers this season while rehabilitating a knee injury suffered in June 2021. Against the Magic, he scored 14 points but was held to 4-of-15 shooting.
The wing hasn't played in a back-to-back since April 2021.
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