For the 2024–25 NBA season, Kawhi Leonard, a star for the Los Angeles Clippers, has not yet made his debut. He’s been out even before the new campaign started as he deals with a right knee injury recovery. This issue also affected his chance of playing for Team USA in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
On Thursday, Tyronn Lue, the head coach of the Clippers, gave an update on Leonard’s status. According to him, the two-time NBA champion still needs time to play more five-on-five games during practices.
Clippers Insider Joey Linn posted the update on his X (formerly Twitter) account.
“Ty Lue says Kawhi Leonard had another successful five on five practice today but will not play tomorrow,” Linn posted. “He needs more five on five before returning.”
Ty Lue says Kawhi Leonard had another successful five on five practice today but will not play tomorrow.
He needs more five on five before returning.
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) December 26, 2024
Injuries have held Leonard back from having full participation with the team over the past few seasons. Last season, he played the most with the Clippers and appeared in 68 games. He averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
It was Leonard’s first time playing at least 60 games since the 2018-19 season. However, in the postseason, the injuries haunted him and limited him to just two games.
Linn also reported that Leonard won’t be with the Clippers on their upcoming three-game road trip starting on Monday. According to the insider, the All-Star forward will stay with the G-League affiliate, the San Diego Clippers to have more reps on the court.
Ty Lue says Kawhi Leonard will not travel on this upcoming road trip. He’s going to stay back and practice with the San Diego Clippers.
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) December 26, 2024
Former NBA star took a shot at Kawhi Leonard
Kawhi Leonard has never been the same player since his last season with the San Antonio Spurs. During the 2017-18 season, the forward missed the first 27 games due to a right quadriceps injury. He made his season debut in December and would only appear in nine games, averaging 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists.
He’s had injuries ever since, which has kept him out of several games. Sometimes, Leonard would miss games even though he was not injured. However, teams would practice load management on him. According to former NBA star Julius Erving, load management messed up Leonard and it has affected his health.
“Load management has messed me up because Kawhi Leonard was my guy,” Erving said. “San Antonio, Toronto, I’m in Kawhi’s corner… And then this load management stuff happened, and he’s playing like every fourth game. I’m like, what the hell happened to my guy? What happened to 82 games?”
Many still hope to see Leonard make a full recovery from his injuries and have him back on the floor.
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Follow me on X at @BarbecueBro, and follow us at @HardwoodHeroics and @GridironHeroics. You can also reach out to Reign Amurao via email at [email protected]. To read more of our articles and keep up to date on the latest sports news, click here!
Reign also writes NBA and WNBA news updates on Sportskeeda. He started as a feature writer for AirAlamo, an NBA website that covers the San Antonio Spurs. Some of his work can also be seen with Valley of the Suns, a Phoenix Suns-centric website, where he served as a contributing writer.
