Kawhi Leonard is chronically injured, and the Clippers have been silly to persuade themselves in any other case

Estimates differ as to what number of precise Clippers followers exist on the earth. Nevertheless many there are, it is not a very good time to be one. 

Paul George is gone. Even worse, James Harden is not. And worst and most predictably of all, Kawhi Leonard is hurt again. 

It is the knee. Once more. The one which knocked him out of final yr’s playoffs two video games right into a first-round sequence with the Dallas Mavericks, a sequence the Clippers misplaced in six video games. The one which bought him despatched house from the Olympics. The one Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank referenced lower than a month in the past when he stated the swelling was “nearly gone” after yet one more offseason process. 

Evidently that is not the case as Leonard is now out “indefinitely” as he continues to cope with irritation, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ohm Youngmisuk. 

Reminder: the Clippers signed Leonard to a three-year, $153 million contract extension in January, once they determined to wager that just a few months of sustained well being would proceed when there have been actually years of proof to recommend in any other case. 

Suffice to say, that call to remain in enterprise with Leonard — a transfer that was ill-advised at greatest and downright determined at worst — is wanting exponentially worse by the minute. If you happen to assume it is even a distant risk that Leonard goes to someway flip up wholesome via a full postseason run, your optimism is commendable. Even enviable. However me? I ended believing in fairy tales a very long time in the past. 

If you’re certainly one of these optimists who sees the hope in nearly all the pieces and appears for positives as a substitute of negatives (which may admittedly be a breath of recent air on this trade), you would possibly level to 2018-19 for instance as to how a compromised Leonard might be “managed” all through a full season and postseason run. 

That season, the Toronto Raptors barely managed Leonard’s well being by not enjoying him in back-to-backs and he lasted the entire postseason and gained a championship. Nevertheless, that was 5 years in the past. Since that point, Leonard, along with getting 5 years older, has endured three surgical procedures after tearing each his ACL and MCL in the identical knee. 

So if Leonard was barely being managed earlier than an ACL and MCL tear, how was it ever life like for the Clippers to assume that the 68 video games he performed final season was something however an aberration? How may they take that little slice of deceiving proof and assume it was going to final not simply the remainder of final season, however the remainder of the subsequent three seasons, on the finish of which Leonard might be 36 years outdated? 

Sooner or later, realism has to set in. 

Let’s name this what it’s: The Clippers went all in when in the summertime of 2019 they signed Leonard and traded for Paul George in a deal that price them Shai-Gilgeous Alexander and a trove of future draft picks, and so they have been desperately making an attempt to validate that call ever since. 

To be clear, it wasn’t a nasty choice. Leonard was the most well liked commodity in basketball coming off that title run with the Raptors, and no person knew what Gilgeous-Alexander was going to change into in Oklahoma Metropolis. Given the chance, they took a shot like some other crew within the league would have.

Now, the commerce for Harden? Determined. The Leonard extension? Determined. Save the discuss how nice the Clippers regarded for just a few months final season after the commerce. It was by no means going to final. Harden isn’t profitable you something with out Leonard, and Leonard isn’t staying wholesome. 

The least they might’ve executed, I suppose, was hold on to George after they already mainly pot dedicated to Leonard and Harden. However in reality, it was sensible to let George go to Philadelphia in free company. This factor is over. However then the Clippers did the worst factor and half-measured their manner right into a palatable stability sheet. They need to’ve gone the entire manner and regarded to commerce Leonard or just let him stroll. Identical for Harden. 

That is what would’ve made probably the most basketball sense. However there is a enterprise facet to this, too, and that may’t be ignored. The Clippers are opening a brand new enviornment this season. They want names. It is comprehensible they did not wish to intestine the roster of its star energy at this explicit level. If that is your clarification for paying Leonard and Harden rattling close to 1 / 4 of a billion {dollars} over the subsequent three years, tremendous.

However do not make the argument about precise basketball. As a result of Leonard isn’t going to be enjoying a lot of that anymore. This isn’t a fluke harm or unhealthy luck or a bump within the highway. It’s a persistent situation. It’s what it’s. 

Solely the Clippers apparently could not see that.