Kawhi Leonard's brutal injury update opens two doors for Pelicans

The NBA's preseason is currently under fire. Fans, analysts, and pundits alike have criticized these warm-up exhibition games as senseless and unnecessary injury risks. A few notable players have already gone down with ailments from preseason games, like the Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey who suffered a thumb contusion.

The New Orleans Pelicans were lucky to escape preseason unscathed, although the team did take extra measures like holding Brandon Ingram out of all of the games except one. Unfortunately, they still had a player go down in the offseason, as Trey Murphy III hurt his hamstring and missed all of training camp and preseason as a result.

The worst injury news to come out ahead of the season wasn't a result of preseason, though. The Los Angeles Clippers recently announced that superstar Kawhi Leonard will be out indefinitely to begin the year to rehabilitate his right knee. The former champion has struggled with his health and availability going all the way back to his San Antonio Spurs days, and this latest news is another discouraging hurdle in a saga that included ambiguous updates and a missed opportunity to win a gold medal.

With Leonard's history, there's no telling how long he'll be out this season, which puts the Los Angeles Clippers in a precarious position. The team is built to win now around Leonard and James Harden, but they'll likely struggle in a loaded Western Conference without their two-way star wing. Many teams could benefit from the Clippers' dismay, and the Pelicans are no exception.

Kawhi Leonard's injury could bring fortune to the New Orleans Pelicans

1. A potential playoff competitor may have just dropped out of the race

The Western Conference is absolutely stacked. That statement seems to apply every single year for the NBA, but this season especially will be a bloodbath on the left side of the Mississippi River — and the Memphis Grizzlies, which should definitely be an Eastern Conference team geographically.

Between the Pelicans, Clippers, Grizzlies, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Los Angeles Lakers, Sacramento Kings, Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, Dallas Mavericks, and Phoenix Suns, there are 12 teams in the West hoping to contend, all of which will be gunning hard to make the playoffs. Two of those squads won't even make the Play-In Tournament. That's not even including the San Antonio Spurs who could very well suddenly have a playoff team on their hands led by Victor Wembanyama and Chris Paul or the Utah Jazz who are helmed by a mad scientist in Danny Ainge and are impossible to predict.

Depending on how long Kawhi Leonard's out, one of those 12 teams may have already dropped out of the race before it even really began. With how much competition there is in the West and the iffiness of the Clippers' roster outside of Kawhi and Harden, even 15-20 missed games from Leonard could be a death knell for LA. That thins the field for all of the West playoff teams including the Pelicans.

2. The Pelicans could be buyers if the Clippers have a fire sale

Unfortunately, the most obvious potential trade between the Clippers and the Pelicans isn't possible this season. Ivica Zubac signed an extension with LA in late August, which makes him ineligible to be moved for six months, taking him past this season's trade deadline. New Orleans has a massive hole in the middle of their roster at center, and Zubac would have been an ideal big body to fill that gap. Alas, he's off the table for this year.

But, that doesn't mean that the Pelicans still can't pick off scraps from the Clippers' remains. Depending on the severity of Kawhi's injury, any of LA's players could be put on the trading block, including some great options for New Orleans to round out their depth like Norman Powell and Derrick Jones Jr. If they're desperate to add a center, they could target Mo Bamba or Kai Jones, or they could try to work a third team into a deal to nab a starting-level center.