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Kawhi Leonard was absent from the Clippers' game against the Nuggets on Wednesday night in Denver due to undisclosed "personal reasons". Despite Nikola Jokic also being out for the Nuggets, the Clippers suffered a 126-103 loss.

Those personal reasons were very legit: He was back in Los Angeles to be with family members who had been forced to evacuate due to the wildfires that have devastated parts of the region,

a story first reported by Chris Haynes

. We hope his family is safe and well.

There is no word on how long Leonard might be away. The Clippers are scheduled to play at home on Saturday against the Hornets, the first game of a three-game homestand.

Leonard had just returned to the Clippers two games earlier after missing the start of the season recovering from an offseason procedure on his right knee. He has looked understandably rusty through those two games, scoring 20 points on 31.8% shooting, although he was a +22 in Los Angeles' win over Atlanta.

Wildfires — combined with strong winds — spread rapidly

through several areas of greater Los Angeles this week, with the largest fire being in Pacific Palisades, a town that climbs up into the Santa Monica Mountains (that fire also hit Malibu and reached into Santa Monica). Also hit hard were Altadena and Hollywood with separate fires. Five people have died as of this writing, and tens of thousands have been forced to evacuate, hundreds of homes and businesses have been destroyed (maybe more than a thousand, there is no official count yet), and the fires have disrupted life throughout the city,

including the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings postponing a home game against Calgary

. If the fires continue and air quality in the region suffers, the

Minnesota Vikings at the Los Angeles Rams playoff game scheduled for Sunday

at SoFi stadium in Inglewood could be moved to Arizona.