Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard will miss the start of the common season and is out indefinitely, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ohm Youngmisuk reported Thursday. Leonard will reportedly proceed his rehabilitation program as he offers with irritation in his proper knee.
Requested about Leonard’s standing at follow Wednesday, Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw stated, “That is not a query for me,” through ClutchPoints’ Tomer Azarly.
Shaw continued: “We’re out right here. He has not been part of what we have been doing each day. I do know the sort of firm line has been that we’ll be affected person with him. So he is doing every little thing that he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee on his personal, with our medical employees, and we’re simply coping with the blokes that we now have.”
Earlier this week, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue advised reporters that Leonard would not play in Thursday’s preseason finale, through the Los Angeles Occasions’ Broderick Turner. Lue stated that he was “unsure” if Leonard can be obtainable when the common season begins.
Lue advised reporters the plan for Leonard is to “proceed to maintain rehabbing, hold getting higher and hold checking the containers.”
None of that is notably enlightening, nevertheless it doesn’t contradict what group president Lawrence Frank stated final month.
“The timing is all going to mainly depend upon how his knee responds to every section,” Frank advised reporters at a press convention on Sep. 24. “Nobody has a crystal ball. We’re trending in a very, actually good path. I do know he is tremendous decided to have a very, actually nice yr, however the timing — I believe, relating to your physique and your well being, I do not suppose you place timeframes on it. I believe you simply have to answer how he responds.”
Frank stated at that time that the swelling in Leonard’s knee was “nearly gone” and that the six-time All-Star wished to “take part in every little thing at coaching camp.” The Clippers had determined to “maintain him again from drill work and actually concentrate on strengthening,” Frank stated, “‘trigger the aim is to get him 100% so he can have a terrific season, not simply this yr however for a few years. We’ll have an in depth plan, step-by-step, sort of having goal measures to go from one section to the following.”
The aim, Frank stated, was to keep away from placing themselves in the identical place they have been in on the finish of final season. Leonard performed in 68 of the Clippers’ first 74 regular-season video games final yr however needed to miss their remaining eight due to the irritation in his knee. Leonard was then determined to come back again for his or her first-round sequence towards the Dallas Mavericks, and, whereas his knee was in in “a very, actually good place” when he suited up for Sport 2, it shortly obtained to some extent “the place it wasn’t manageable,” Frank stated. This time, they wish to be as cautious as doable in hopes that they will handle the difficulty all season and past: “We’re in a very good place, however we wish to hold it in an excellent place.”
Later that day, The Athletic reported that Leonard had undergone a process on his knee in Could. Leonard joined Staff USA for its pre-Olympic coaching camp in Las Vegas in July, however USA Basketball changed him with Derrick White.
Leonard tore the ACL in his proper knee within the 2021 playoffs and missed your entire 2021-22 season in consequence. He then tore the meniscus in his proper knee within the 2023 playoffs.
Final season, Leonard made the All-NBA Second Staff and averaged 23.7 factors, 6.1 rebounds and three.6 assists in 34.3 minutes. Earlier than the knee irritation late within the season, it appeared that he may get by way of a full season and not using a vital damage difficulty for the primary time since 2020, his first yr with the Clippers. The best way the Clippers have framed this, they’re merely making an attempt to maximise the possibilities of that occuring in 2024-25. At the very least firstly of the season, although, the Clippers must make up for an enormous gap within the lineup, and that can be more durable than it was after letting Paul George stroll in free company. You’ll be able to count on Derrick Jones Jr. and Terance Mann to get the hardest defensive assignments and James Harden and Norman Powell to hold the load offensively.
