After 493 days of waiting, Kawhi Leonard is finally back in the NBA.
However, behind this period of hardship, Leonard, who was already taciturn, naturally could not say more. Even if he had mentioned it casually, it would have been just a few words, emphasizing his feelings and thoughts of him, and barely mentioning the pain, sadness and process behind the injury.
In the second round of the 2021 playoffs against the Jazz, the Los Angeles Clippers star tore her cruciate ligament while cutting with the ball. Direct refund.
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But the wait is finally over, and the two-time league MVP is finally returning to the NBA in the 2022-23 season, though he has yet to deal with his right knee injury, so he hasn’t played many games. Leonard also gave Fox Sports’ Melissa Rohlin an exclusive interview about her physical and mental suffering in the face of the injury:
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Leonard signed a three-year, 109 million contract with the Clippers in 2019. In parallel, the Clippers also traded young draft talent and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Paul George, naturally arousing many discussions and expectations.
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In the previous season, the Clippers’ lineup already had a solid foundation: Even though there were fewer star players, solid and useful players like Lou Williams, Landry Shamet, Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverley battled the Warriors in the first round. of the playoffs and was not lost until game six.
At that time, Leonard and George joined the two star little forwards. In addition to greatly improving the overall offense and defense, there were also people who could hold the ball and lead the team to fight hard battles at critical moments.
However, things never went as planned.
In the 2020 playoffs, the Clippers defeated the Mavericks in the first round, but squandered a 3-1 tie against the Nuggets in the second round and were upset. Of course, the Clippers weren’t completely disappointed about this: The 2020-21 season is coming up, and the team’s goal is still to win their first NBA championship in more than 50 years.
In the 2021 playoffs, the Clippers once again faced the Luka Dončić-led Mavericks in the first round. The two teams fought 7 games. Dončić and Leonard both averaged over 30 points per game. Compared to Dončić’s single-core performance, Leonard received More support More, Dončić scored 46 points in the seventh game, but the Clippers had three players who scored more than 20 points, allowing the Clippers to qualify to the second round.
The Clippers were defeated in their first two games of the second round. Leonard had 34 points and 31 points in back-to-back games to help the team win. However, a cut and collision with Joe Ingles in the fourth quarter of game four left Leonard with no choice. He limped back to the desk, but was still able to walk on his own and appeared to be fine, but he didn’t expect the follow-up exam. -up was so serious.
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“Knowing the situation for the first time, I feel very bitter and hard to accept.” Rohlin asked Leonard how he felt when he could only sit on the bench in the playoffs. That year, the Clippers finally played to the finish for the Western Conference championship and lost to the Suns.
Leonard also said that he often thinks about the what-if storyline. If he was still thinking about the changes in the battle situation, he also knew that this was what the fans, players and staff of the Clippers team thought, but that’s all in the past.
After 493 days of injuries, Leonard is finally back in the game. “I feel pretty good. I’ve worked hard and trained a lot to get back to my old form. As a professional player, not being able to play is very painful, so I’m very excited to be able to train and play.”
Since the beginning of the season, Leonard has been playing off the bench, averaging 12.5 points and 6.5 rebounds per game, currently the doctor has assessed that his knee is still stiff, so he is not fit to play now, but the team staff and coaches believe his condition is improving. As long as Leonard is healthy, the Clippers’ championship dreams will last.
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[Redattore speciale Liang Xiaoyuan/Redattore responsabile Xie Yiqian]
This article is compiled for reference:The full story behind Kawhi Leonard’s injury
