Kawhi Leonard retired from the NBA

Injuries are every athlete’s worst nightmare. Let them tell him Rafa Nadal, who has fought against them for a good part of his career, although despite everything he has had an amazing career. The same thing is happening now to Kawhi Leonard, who had already left the last one Paris 2024 Olympic Games due to injury.

Los Angeles Clippers They built a new marquee and had a team to focus on everything, with Kawhi Leonard stars alongside Paul Georgebut the born forward in the city of Los Angeles is suffering from chronic knee problems which mean that he is out indefinitely and cannot be at the start of the season.

“I think he should consider retiring.”said Kendrick Perkins, a former NBA player and television commentator, in particular. The truth is that Leonard is going through a problem and there have been several times that he seems to recover, but then he has to start again because of a relapse.

There was a time when Kawhi Leonard looked like he could sit at the table LeBron James and Stephen Curry. He won two NBA rings, with the San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors, in 2014 and 2019 respectively. He was also named Defender of the Year twice, but his knee problems have forced him to shut down and he can’t have the role he intended.

Although he tore a ligament in his hand in 2014, the problem started in 2016, when he suffered from quadriceps tendinopathy. The worst was yet to come, as in 2021 he suffered a torn cruciate ligament and since then he has not recovered. To make matters even worse, in 2023 he began to suffer a meniscus injury, which he has had ever since.

Despite Perkins’ opinion of a possible withdrawal, not everyone thinks the same. “You’re not the right person to ask a Hall of Famer to do that,” television commentator Chandler Parsons taunted him.

It is paradoxical, and it happens a lot in the NBA, that the two franchises that did not sign Leonard in 2019 have improved much more than the Clippers, as is the case with. Los Angeles Lakers and the Oklahoma City Thunder. When George went to Philadelphia, The Clippers’ bet was to renew Leonard for another three years, something that seemed like a good idea at first but cost them dearly due to the attacker’s injuries.