In information that received’t shock anybody, Kawhi Leonard might not play on opening night time towards the Suns due to that pesky proper knee damage.
The Clippers’ President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank met with members of the media on Tuesday afternoon and defined the place Kawhi is at proper now.
“His proper knee, the swelling has considerably gone down. It’s nearly gone,” Frank stated, through Tomer Azarly. “He needs to take part in every little thing in coaching camp however we’re gonna maintain him again from drill work and actually give attention to strengthening as a result of the purpose is to get him 100% so he can have an amazing season not simply this yr however for a few years. We’ll have an in depth plan, step-by-step, have goal measures to go from one part to the subsequent however he’s tremendous decided, tremendous excited, and might’t wait to get began.”
This type of ramp-up course of sounds typical for a participant who underwent low season surgical procedure.
Though the Clippers didn’t ever formally acknowledge that Leonard had surgical procedure over the summer season, Shams Charania is now reporting that he did.
“Clippers star Kawhi Leonard underwent a process on his knee within the offseason, sources inform me and
@LawMurrayTheNU,” Shams stated on X. “The franchise stated right this moment Leonard will likely be restricted to strengthening his knee to begin Clippers coaching camp, however staff officers are optimistic about his progress.”
In the identical press convention, Frank went on to element what he’s seen from Leonard at Group USA camp till now.
“Clearly, he was cleared medically. I watched him put together for it, I used to be there on the first two practices. I used to be actually dissatisfied that they didn’t give him an extended runway… The swelling did subside the best way that we thought from a timing standpoint and it simply took a bit bit longer for the swelling to get to the place its at now. I’m inspired that it’s occurred now and we need to hold it the place it stays that manner for your entire yr.”
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