Subscribe
Follow Us
LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard's long-anticipated return from the right ACL tear has gone smoothly thus far, and the Los Angeles Clippers could reap the rewards of his patient approach to rehab.
Leonard participated in two of the Clippers' first three preseason games, and he will likely play in the fourth one as well. He played 16 minutes in the first game and 17 minutes in the second, respectively, all in the first halves.
The regular season hasn't tipped off just yet, but returning to play after a 15-month layoff has brought Leonard a renewed sense of joy.
“Yeah, I missed a whole year missing basketball,” Leonard explained. “I went down in one of the worst ways, in a playoff run. Just don’t wanna take anything for granted, like I always say, and just trying to live in that moment and bring a sense of energy for the team.”
Article Continues Below
Kawhi Leonard went down while playing the best basketball of his career. In 11 appearances, the two-time NBA Finals MVP was averaging 30.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.4 assists, and 2.1 steals on 57.3 percent shooting from the field and 39.3 percent from 3-point land.
His run was cut short after being hit by the side of Joe Ingles' body in an attempt to intentionally foul and stop a fast-break opportunity. Since then, Leonard has worked tirelessly in his rehabilitation to help his team and return to doing what he loves.
“I’m young still, so any chance you get that taken away from you and you don’t feel like you’re done, it’s like … I dunno … it’s a lot of thoughts into it. We’ll just have to sit down and randomly just blurt a bunch of different lines, but yeah. You just miss it, you know what I mean? That’s some of the reason I don’t play pickup in the offseason. The grind is so heavy during the year, it’s like I need to find a way to miss playing basketball again.”
Kawhi Leonard will be managed throughout the season as the team looks to gradually increase his workload over time. The Clippers have 15 back-to-back sets this season, and it's all but safe to rule Leonard out of all of those. The playoffs have no back-to-backs, however, and the Clippers hope their star will be ready for the full workload in April.
