Sept. 25—Los Angeles Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard will not play in next week’s training camp practice as he continues to recover from knee inflammation that bothered him in last season’s playoffs.
Leonard played only two games in Los Angeles’ first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks, who won 4-2 and advanced to the NBA Finals. The Athletic reported Tuesday that Leonard underwent knee surgery in the offseason.
Clippers president Lawrence Frank said that although the swelling in Leonard’s knee has gone down “substantially,” the team is still unsure whether the 33-year-old will be able to participate in Los Angeles’ season opener against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23.
“I think the timing will depend on how his knee responds at each stage,” Frank said. “Nobody has a crystal ball.”
For now, Leonard will focus on strength training.
“We’re just going to focus on strength and loads,” Frank said. “I think we’ve learned some lessons. If you think about it, he wanted to come back so badly for the Dallas series that within a game and a half, the swelling became unbearable. Yeah, so we didn’t do that to ourselves to be in that situation.
Los Angeles head coach Tyronn Lue is relying on guidance from the Clippers’ medical staff and has yet to figure out how Leonard will fit into the team’s practices.
Leonard was not with the team for Los Angeles’ final eight regular season games before Dallas lost the series four games to one.
Still, the Clippers are hopeful Leonard can return.
“I think it’s encouraging that we’re already seeing progress,” Frank said. “As far as inflammation goes, it’s a very tricky thing. We’re always looking for answers and over time we’ll continue to learn more about what works and what doesn’t. It’s very unfortunate that they had to deal with that, but I think we’re definitely headed in the right direction.”
Leonard, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and six-time All-Star, played 68 games (all starts) for Los Angeles last season, averaging 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game.
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