Kawhi Leonard was having one of his best seasons on the Los Angeles Clippers last season before it was undone by a knee injury in March 2024. He was a shell of himself in the two Playoff games he played and has been focused on coming into next season as healthy as possible. Shams Charania revealed that Leonard will be a limited participant in training camp as he's still recovering from offseason knee surgery.
"Clippers star Kawhi Leonard underwent a procedure on his knee in the offseason, sources tell me and Law Murray. The franchise said today Leonard will be limited to strengthening his knee to start Clippers training camp, but team officials are optimistic about his progress."
Leonard was an All-NBA selection last season, averaging 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists. If he misses time this season, the Clippers' hopes of being competitive are next to slim given the departure of Paul George this summer as well.
Clippers GM Lawrence Frank gave more information on the same, revealing that the team is focused on strengthening his knee but refused to put a timeframe on the recovery .
“His right knee, the swelling has significantly gone down. It's almost gone. ... We're going to hold him back from drill work [in training camp] and work on strengthening."
"The timing is gonna depend how his knee responds to each phase… We’re trending in a good direction… but the timing when it comes to your body and your health, you don’t put time frames on it.”
While the team hopes James Harden can carry the load in Kawhi's absence, the franchise doesn't have the roster strength, and it needs to be a playoff team in the West without Kawhi. They did add wings such as Derrick Jones Jr. to have depth in case of a Kawhi injury, but it might not be enough if Leonard is missing games from day one.
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The revelation that Leonard went through offseason knee surgery which he still isn't 100% from is quite shocking given how upset Frank and other Clippers members were when Leonard was sent home from Team USA due to concerns over his knee .
"It was USAB's call, and I was, quite frankly, very disappointed with the decision. Kawhi wanted to play. We wanted him to play. I was there the first two practices. He looked very good, and was a full participant in everything that they did. I wasn't there for the third practice, where ultimately, that was the point where they decided to go in a different direction. I expressed then, I really wished that they would have given Kawhi more time."
This means Leonard likely hadn't gone under the knife by late June and early July when Team USA was still being finalized. If he got surgery after that, it's a concern because that means he chose not to get his knee fixed from April onwards when his season had ended.
Leonard's injuries are not easy to figure out, and it seems this knee recovery will not happen in time to start the season.
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