Kawhi Leonard Gets Honest On Missing Games

As usual, the Los Angeles Clippers consider themselves championship contenders, and as usual, there are concerns about their two stars staying healthy throughout the season.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George have missed a fistful of games in their four seasons with the team, and they’re both starting to get up there in age, which means time is running out for the team to win the NBA championship.

The league has instituted new rules dictating when star players cannot sit out of games due to load management, and Leonard addressed the issue of his missing games during Media Day on Monday, via Legion Hoops.

Kawhi Leonard speaks on missing games:

“If I’m hurt, I can’t play basketball. These last two years I tore my ACL and I tore my meniscus. I’m either guarding the best player, or the best player is guarding me.”

(via @Farbod_E) pic.twitter.com/oTiFz1uCRZ

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) October 2, 2023

Leonard hasn’t played in over 60 games in a season since the 2016-17 campaign, and he has routinely sat out a handful of games each season for what appears to be load management.

However, the belief is that he has sat out of such games because of an actual active injury and not merely for injury prevention.

He suffered a partially torn ACL in his right knee during the 2021 playoffs that forced him to miss action until the start of last season, and during the 2023 playoffs, he had a torn meniscus in that same knee that kept him out of the last three games of the first round.

When Leonard is healthy, he is still a force, as he is one of the few stars who can drop at least 25 points and contain the opponent’s best wing player.

But for the Clippers to have any chance of winning it all, he will have to limit how many games he ultimately misses.

NEXT: 
Russell Westbrook Gets Honest On Clippers’ Championship Expectations