Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard will skip the start of the regular season and be out indefinitely, ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ohm Youngmisuk reported Thursday. Leonard will reportedly continue his rehabilitation program as he has irritation in his right knee.
When asked about Leonard’s situation in practice on Wednesday, Clippers maestro Brian Shaw said, “That’s not a question for me,” via Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints.
Shaw persevered: “We’re here. He hasn’t been a part of what we’ve been doing on a daily basis. I know the company’s kind of line has been that we’re going to be patient with him. So he’s doing everything he can to rehabilitate her and strengthen that knee on your own, with our medical staff, and we’re just dealing with the guys we have.”
Earlier this month, Clippers maestro Tyronn Lue told reporters that Leonard would not play in games in Thursday’s preseason finale, via Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times. Lue said he was “not sure” if Leonard would be available when the regular season begins.
Lue instructed reporters that the plan for Leonard is to “continue to rehab, continue to improve and continue to check the boxes.”
None of this is particularly insightful, but it doesn’t contradict what team president Lawrence Frank said on the day it ended.
“The timing will basically depend on how your knee responds to each phase,” Frank told reporters at a Sept. 24 press conference. “Nobody has a crystal ball. We’re going in a very, very good direction.” I know he’s super determined to have a really great year, but the timing… I think when it comes to your body and your health, I don’t think you put deadlines on it. respond to how he responds.”
Frank stated at the time that the swelling in Leonard’s knee was “almost gone” and that the six-time All-Megastar was looking to “be involved in everything in training camp.” The Clippers had decided to “keep him from working out and really focus on strengthening,” Frank said, “because the goal is to get him 100 percent so he can have a great season, not just this year but for many years to come.” “We will have a detailed, step-by-step plan with objective measures to move from one phase to the next.”
The goal, Frank said, was to avoid hitting each other in the same spot they were in at the end of the season. Leonard played in 68 of the Clippers’ first 74 regular-season games, but had to sit out the final eight due to irritation in his knee. Leonard was more determined to return to regain his first-round form against the Dallas Mavericks and, a month in which his knee was in “a very, very good position” when he prepared for Game 2, he was temporarily given it. to a certain point “where it wasn’t manageable,” Frank said. This generation must be as cautious as possible in the hope that they can lead the challenge throughout the season and beyond: “We are in a very good place, but we want to keep it in a good place.”
After that time, The Athletic reported that Leonard had undergone a process on his knee in May. Leonard joined Group USA for its pre-Olympic training camp in Las Vegas in July, but USA Basketball replaced him with Derrick White.
Leonard tore the ACL in his right knee in the 2021 playoffs and missed the entire 2021-22 season as a result. The closest he came to tearing the meniscus in his right knee was in the 2023 playoffs.
Last season, Leonard made the second All-NBA group and averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 34.3 minutes. Before the season-delayed knee irritation, it looked like he could go a full season without a major trauma factor for the first class since 2020, his first appearance with the Clippers. The way the Clippers have framed this is that they are simply looking to maximize the chances of that happening in 2024-25. However, at least at the start of the season, the Clippers must prepare for a gigantic hole in the lineup, and that will be more difficult than letting Paul George travel in sovereign company prevented. You can expect Derrick Jones Jr. and Terance Mann to get the toughest defensive assignments and James Harden and Norman Powell to carry the offensive load.
