Kawhi Leonard damage: Clippers star sidelined indefinitely to rehabilitate knee, per report

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 apply Wednesday, Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw stated, “That is not a query for me,” via ClutchPoints’ Tomer Azarly.

Shaw continued: “We’re out right here. He has not been part of what we have been doing every day. I do know the type of firm line has been that we will 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 fellows that we have now.”

Earlier this week, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue informed reporters that Leonard would not play in Thursday’s preseason finale, via the Los Angeles Times’ Broderick Turner. Lue stated that he was “unsure” if Leonard could be accessible when the common season begins.

Lue informed reporters the plan for Leonard is to “proceed to maintain rehabbing, maintain getting higher and maintain checking the packing containers.”

None of that is significantly enlightening, but it surely doesn’t contradict what workforce president Lawrence Frank stated final month. 

“The timing is all going to principally depend upon how his knee responds to every section,” Frank told reporters at a press conference on Sep. 24. “Nobody has a crystal ball. We’re trending in a extremely, actually good course. I do know he is tremendous decided to have a extremely, actually nice 12 months, however the timing — I believe, on the subject of your physique and your well being, I do not suppose you set timeframes on it. I believe you simply have to reply to 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 deal with strengthening,” Frank stated, “‘trigger the purpose is to get him 100% so he can have an awesome season, not simply this 12 months however for a few years. We’ll have an in depth plan, step-by-step, type of having goal measures to go from one section to the following.”

The purpose, 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 12 months however needed to miss their remaining eight due to the irritation in his knee. Leonard was then determined to return again for his or her first-round sequence towards the Dallas Mavericks, and, whereas his knee was in in “a extremely, actually good place” when he suited up for Sport 2, it rapidly bought to some extent “the place it wasn’t manageable,” Frank stated. This time, they wish to be as cautious as attainable in hopes that they’ll handle the difficulty all season and past: “We’re in a extremely good place, however we wish to maintain it in a very good place.”

Later that day, The Athletic reported that Leonard had undergone a process on his knee in Might. Leonard joined Crew 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 complete 2021-22 season consequently. He then tore the meniscus in his proper knee within the 2023 playoffs. 

Final season, Leonard made the All-NBA Second Crew 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 means of a full season with out a important damage problem for the primary time since 2020, his first 12 months with the Clippers. The way in which the Clippers have framed this, they’re merely making an attempt to maximise the possibilities of that occuring in 2024-25. At the least at first of the season, although, the Clippers must make up for a large gap within the lineup, and that can be more durable than it was once after letting Paul George stroll in free company. You possibly can anticipate Derrick Jones Jr. and Terance Mann to get the hardest defensive assignments and James Harden and Norman Powell to hold the load offensively.