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Los Angeles Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank delivered a discouraging injury update on Kawhi Leonard. Leonard missed the final eight regular-season games due to a knee injury, which forced him to miss most of the Clippers' first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks despite playing in Games 2 and 3. Frank met with reporters one week before Clippers Media Day on Tuesday and addressed Leonard's recovery, per Tomer Azarly.
“Kawhi Leonard will be held out of certain drill work to open Clippers training camp. They will focus on strengthening and loading,” Azarly said. “Lawrence Frank says the inflammation has gone down significantly, but not completely. Says he’s in a really good place but they want to keep it in a good place.”
The news surrounding Leonard not being cleared to participate in next week's training camp was not well-received by users on social media.
“The fact that he STILL has inflammation is concerning,” Sports injury analyst Dr. Evan Jeffries, DPT, said on his X, formerly Twitter, to which Trey Kerby replied, “I need the “James Harden looks good” post so bad, right now.”
Leonard underwent a procedure on his knee in the offseason, according to The Athletic's Shams Charania. Then, Clippers fans started weighing in with sheer disappointment.
“So much for being in the playoffs, eh?” one fan asked, to which another replied, “Holy s*** bro just retire.”
Kawhi every season with an injury: pic.twitter.com/Fyn4CQNSRp
— God Ghost Writer 👁🗨 (@kingchudy) September 25, 2024
“What was healthy Kawhi Leonard like?” pic.twitter.com/67dz2yU8v0
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) September 25, 2024
Kawhi Leonard's injury history with Clippers
It feels like we haven't seen the best version of Kawhi Leonard in years. Thus, it's difficult to determine how the Clippers fare amongst the best in the Western Conference. What's worse is how the Clippers misled the public by downplaying the severity of Leonard's injuries. Since his torn ACL in 2021, Kawhi has dealt with many setbacks and deceiving reports from the team, which the Dime Dropper podcast points out via X, formerly Twitter.
“2021 Playoffs : Listed with right knee sprain and were bluffing that he could return in a potential NBA FINALS, after season come out and say he tore his ACL and needs surgery 2021-2022: Bluffed that he could potentially return in the playoffs, was on a mins restriction to begin the following season 5 months later,” the podcast's account pointed out in a timeline that ends with what transpired over the summer.
“2024 Summer: Apparently pulled from Team USA when he was “good to go” yet isn’t ready to start training camp as a full participant & Lawrence Frank says the swelling has gone DOWN since then. So his knee was swollen more 2 months ago and you were gonna let him play full speed Olympic Games? News comes out that he had a clean up procedure in his knee & is currently in recovery mode,” the post concludes.
Clippers will host Media Day on October 1.
