Kawhi Leonard injury: 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 mentioned, “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 will be affected person with him. So he is doing every part 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 instructed reporters that Leonard would not play in Thursday’s preseason finale, through the Los Angeles Occasions’ Broderick Turner. Lue mentioned that he was “undecided” if Leonard could be out there when the common season begins.

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

None of that is significantly enlightening, however it doesn’t contradict what group president Lawrence Frank mentioned final month. 

“The timing is all going to principally rely upon how his knee responds to every section,” Frank instructed reporters at a press convention on Sep. 24. “Nobody has a crystal ball. We’re trending in a extremely, actually good path. I do know he is tremendous decided to have a extremely, actually nice yr, however the timing — I feel, with regards to your physique and your well being, I do not suppose you set timeframes on it. I feel you simply have to answer how he responds.”

Frank mentioned at that time that the swelling in Leonard’s knee was “nearly gone” and that the six-time All-Star needed to “take part in every part at coaching camp.” The Clippers had determined to “maintain him again from drill work and actually give attention to strengthening,” Frank mentioned, “‘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 subsequent.”

The aim, Frank mentioned, 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 collection 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 received to some extent “the place it wasn’t manageable,” Frank mentioned. This time, they wish to be as cautious as potential in hopes that they will handle the problem all season and past: “We’re in a extremely good place, however we wish to maintain it in an excellent place.”

Later that day, The Athletic reported that Leonard had undergone a process on his knee in Might. Leonard joined Workforce 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 in consequence. He then tore the meniscus in his proper knee within the 2023 playoffs. 

Final season, Leonard made the All-NBA Second Workforce 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 and not using a vital harm subject 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. No less than 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 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.