The Los Angeles Clippers were $50,000 by the NBA for a comment that head coach Doc Rivers made about Kawhi Leonard being ‘healthy' ahead of the team's matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks.
What ultimately got the Clippers fined was that the team said that Leonard was dealing with an ‘ongoing injury to the patella tendon in his left knee' but Rivers' statement was inconsistent with that. It doesn't help that the league likely had heightened attention to Leonard sitting out since it was during a nationally televised matchup with the reigning MVP.
Rivers shared a hilarious reaction when asked about the fine by saying ‘I love getting fined.' He also jokingly stated that he is ‘scared to answer' when asked about a potential balance between transparency with the NBA and respecting Leonard's privacy.
Here’s Doc joking about loving to be fined by the NBA. #Clippers pic.twitter.com/yCiewmEFfj
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) November 8, 2019
Strangely enough, the competitive aspect of sitting Leonard at times for ‘load management' should have already been vindicated. The Toronto Raptors won the NBA Finals because Leonard was sharp throughout their playoff run while the Golden State Warriors dealt with a variety of serious injuries.
Needless to say, that doesn't mean that the Warriors wouldn't have suffered injuries if they had used load management more. Instead, it shows that there was a clear advantage in the NBA Finals that the Raptors experienced by allowing Leonard to minimize his injury risk while being able to stay fresh for the games that matter the most.
There was significant criticism for the Clippers and Leonard in the media after he sat out for their loss to the Bucks. This issue is likely going to remain at the forefront of NBA discussion since there is no reason for the team to change their process and outsiders probably won't change their perspective.
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