Admin September 25, 2024
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INGLEWOOD — Clippers star Kawhi Leonard reportedly underwent an offseason procedure on his troubled right knee and will miss a portion of the team’s training camp that begins next week in Hawaii. The Athletic’s Shams Charania was first to report the news of the procedure.
Lawrence Frank, the team’s president of basketball operations, did not mention any procedure when speaking to reporters on Tuesday but said the swelling has gone down “significantly” yet has not subsided completely. The continued discomfort could jeopardize Leonard’s availability for the start of the season.
“I think the timing is all going to depend on how his knee responds to each phase,” Frank said. “No one has a crystal ball. We’re trending in a really, really good direction. I know he’s super determined to have a great year, but the timing when it comes to your body and your health, I don’t think you put time frame on it. I think you just have to respond to how he responds.”
In July, Frank declined to answer whether Leonard had a procedure on the knee that has needed both ACL (2022) and meniscus (2021) surgeries after he was dismissed from the U.S. Olympic team.
Leonard, 33, is coming off yet another campaign that was cut short due to injury. The two-time NBA Finals MVP appeared in 68 games for the Clippers during the 2023-24 regular season – his most since 2016-17 – but he missed 12 games down the stretch, including four during their first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks.
Frank said the six-time All-Star is in “great spirits” and hopes to be ready for the regular season, which begins Oct. 23 against the Phoenix Suns at the team’s new arena, the Intuit Dome.
“He wants to participate in everything at training camp, but we’re going to hold him out of drill work,” Frank said. “We’ll have a detailed plan, step-by-step, having objective measures to go from one phase to the next. But he’s super determined, super excited and can’t wait to get started.”
Frank said the team will focus on strengthening the knee “because the goal is to get him 100 percent, so he can have a great season, not just this season but the next few years.”
Leonard, who played just two games in the Clippers’ playoff series against the Mavericks, was sent home from Team USA training camp ahead of the Paris Olympics when it was determined his knee wasn’t healthy.
“He desperately wanted to come back and play in that Dallas series and within a game and a half, the inflammation came to where it wasn’t manageable,” Frank said. “So, we don’t want to put ourselves in that position. He’s spent, after the Olympics, a lot of the season with a lot of strengthening; we want to continue doing that, so we can get him to 100 percent.”
Still, Frank said he was encouraged by Leonard’s progress.
“This was a tricky thing in terms of the inflammation, where we were kind of searching for answers along the way, and I think with time, we continue to learn more and more of what works and what hasn’t. It’s truly unfortunate that he’s had to deal with this, but we’re definitely trending in the right direction.”
Last season, Leonard averaged 23.7 points, 3.6 assists, 6.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game while garnering All-NBA second team recognition.
On Jan. 10, he signed a three-year, $153 million contract extension.
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