Kawhi Leonard plans to not start for a major part of the games considering his ACL recovery: “You gotta gradually play minutes in order to get the ACL strong"
The Los Angeles Clippers are looking like one of the best teams in all of basketball this season, and Kawhi Leonard is a major reason why for that. People seem to realize that the Clippers have a legitimate chance of winning an NBA title this year and that's usually the case when you have a guy like Leonard on your team. He missed the entire 2021-22 season because of an ACL injury, but the Clippers finally welcomed him back on Thursday night and he showed why he is who he is.
Kawhi ended up playing 21 minutes in this one and finished with 14 points and seven rebounds while beating the Lakers by six points. This was an impressive first game back and he has shown throughout the offseason workouts and in this game that he hasn't missed a beat so far.
Although he hasn't missed a beat yet, Kawhi Leonard spoke a bit about what it's like coming back from an ACL injury and what he can do to protect himself and make sure that he's healthy for his team this season.
“You gotta gradually play minutes in order to get the ACL strong. Once you start playing 38 minutes first game, it could easily weaken up. I’m listening to the doctors with that.”
No back-to-backs for Kawhi Leonard, whose focus is strengthening his ACL right now.
“You gotta gradually play minutes in order to get the ACL strong. Once you start playing 38 minutes first game, it could easily weaken up. I’m listening to the doctors with that.” https://t.co/NAo6wErUkj
Kawhi Leonard Injury Update
The Clippers will continue to monitor his minutes and it's smart from their perspective because he's arguably the top player in all of basketball when he's healthy. Obviously, we can make a case for a few other guys, but what Kawhi Leonard has been able to do throughout the entirety of his career is nothing short of impressive. He's had years where he's scored over 26 points per game and he has a real opportunity to do that once again this season. He carried the Toronto Raptors to an NBA title during the 2018-19 season and will look to do the same for the Clippers this year with a much better supporting cast.
The Clippers Have the Best Rotation in Basketball
The Clippers might have the best supporting cast in all of basketball at the moment as their roster is loaded. Many are saying that the Los Angeles Clippers might have the best team in all of basketball, and it would be tough to argue with them With guys like Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, Marcus Morris, Nicolas Batum, Robert Covington, Reggie Jackson, John Wall, Norman Powell, Ivica Zubac, and many others, the Clippers are arguably deeper than any other team in all of basketball this season.
At the end of the day, both of those guys are going to need to be healthy. If they aren't healthy for the entirety of the season and in the playoffs, Los Angeles isn't going to be the team that everybody's expecting them to be.
Let's see how the remainder of the season goes for the Clippers, but at the moment, the team has a ton of confidence and rightfully so. They still have a long way to go if they want to be the team that they were hoping to be this season, but their first game against the Los Angeles Lakers was certainly a good start to that.