Kawhi Leonard was not very happy with the league’s new player participation policy and said that when he has stopped it has been due to injuries.
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — Perhaps no NBA player has been more associated with workload management and the league’s new player engagement policy than LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard. But Leonard rejected that policy during the team’s media day Monday, saying, “no league policy helps me play more games.”
Leonard made his first comments since tearing the meniscus in his right knee during the Clippers’ first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns in April. That mishap marked the second time in three years that Leonard, 32, suffered a right knee injury during the postseason. He also tore his right ACL during the second round of the team’s run to the Western Conference Finals in 2021.
Clippers star Leonard participated in Media Day this Monday. AP
After that ACL injury, Leonard missed the 2021-22 season. He has not played more than 60 games in any season since the 2016-17 campaign.
When first asked about the new policy passed last month, which states that teams must ensure that no more than one star player is available for the same game, Leonard asked what the new rules were.
Following a reporter’s response, Leonard noted that his rocky availability with the Toronto Raptors in the 2018-19 season, when he led the team to a championship, came while he was rehabbing a knee injury.
“I’m not a guy who sits back because I’m handling the workload; well, when I was with the Raptors, it was different; like I was coming off an injury,” he said. “And you have to know the details from the doctor.
“But if the league is watching or trying to make fun of what I did with the Raptors, it should stop, because I was injured that whole year. Other than that, if I can play, I will play basketball. I work every day during the summer to play. Therefore, no league policy helps me play more games.”
Regarding the new policy, Clippers coach You Lousaid: “If our guys are healthy, they’re going to play. I know there’s a big issue that our guys don’t like to play or whatever, but that’s not true. Our guys want to play. Unfortunately, “They’ve had injuries. So if guys are healthy, they’re going to play, and that’s the only thing we’re really focused on.”
Leonard suffered the meniscus injury during the first game of the Clippers’ first-round series against the Suns in April. He played all the way in Game 2 of that series and was then ruled out for the next three games. Leonard underwent a cleaning procedure on his meniscus on June 6.
Leonard said he didn’t do anything especially new this offseason in terms of preparing his body for the new schedule. Instead, he focused on the changing nature of some injuries.
“It’s even a matter of whether you’re going to trip on someone; a lot of my injuries last year were because I stepped on someone’s foot or bumped into someone,” Leonard said. “You have to control what you can control and get the treatments you can and listen to your body, keep moving and see what happens.”
Leonard later added: “You’re either going to get hurt or you’re going to be lucky enough to play games during the playoffs or the entire regular season. I’m not trying to get to a certain number of games. I’m trying to play the games I can. If I’m hurt, I can’t play basketball. The last two years, unfortunately, I got hurt, I tore my ACL and then at the end of the year I tore my meniscus. That’s basketball.
“I’m a two-way player. I play hard, so injuries are going to happen. I’m not out there just walking around. I play on both ends of the court. I see the best players on both ends every night. Or I’m defending against the best player or the best player is defending in front of me. If an injury comes, that’s what happens.”
Last week, Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, said that both Leonard and Paul Georgewho was sidelined with a sprained right knee in that first-round series against Phoenix, are “completely healthy” entering the team’s training camp in Hawaii.
For all the praise when Leonard and George joined the Clippers, they have rarely been healthy together during their two seasons. They played just 38 games together last season and, in total, played in just 142 total regular-season and postseason games combined, during which the team posted a 96-46 record.
When asked about the league’s new policy, George said, “If I’m healthy, absolutely, I’m adjusting and I want to play every night.”
2023-10-02 20:31:55
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