Over the past couple of seasons, one of the biggest false narratives from fans and media surrounding LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is that he chooses to sit out games, especially back-to-backs. What a lot of those people don’t seem to realize is that the game restrictions and limitations are coming from the team and medical staff themselves. During a recent appearance on Shannon Sharpe’s show, ‘Club Shay Shay,’ Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue shut down those narratives surrounding Kawhi Leonard.
“I feel sorry for him, you know? Because all the work he puts in – we see it every day. And just what it takes to get on the floor on a consistent basis – it takes a lot for him to get out there. And so it’s not like he’s wanting to sit out and miss games,” Tyronn Lue said. “He puts the work in every single day. And the grind that he has to do to even get on the floor to play – it’s just tough.”
“So when he tries to push through that threshold himself, he gets himself in trouble,” Lue continued. “So a lot of times, it’s coming from us. It’s coming from Lawrence Frank, the medical staff. We’ve got to protect him from himself. Because you know sometimes he wants to play back-to-backs. . .And it’s just tough because he’s not a guy that wants to sit out. Not wanting to play. His whole mindset is to win championships – and that’s what he wants to do.”
The 2023-24 season was actually a milestone for Leonard in that he played 68 games in the regular season, the most number of games he’s played since the 2016-17 season when he suited up in 74 games. That was also when Leonard suffered a major injury in the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Golden State Warriors.
This past season, Leonard was recovering from a knee injury sustained against the Dallas Mavericks in the 2024 playoffs. He appeared in only 37 games, averaging 21.5 points, 5.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.6 steals with splits of 49.8 percent shooting from the field, 41.1 percent shooting from the three-point line and 81 percent shooting from the free-throw line.
