Kawhi Leonard offers blunt reasoning for why he’s been available this season
The biggest drawback to the Los Angeles Clippers the last half-decade has been their health–or lack thereof.
It begins with forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, who have been injury-plagued each of the last four seasons up until this one. Though Leonard and George have missed a combined nine games, both having appeared in 90 percent of the team’s games for the first time since joining Los Angeles ahead of the 2019-20 season.
Leonard was recently asked about how he’s been able to remain available this season; his response was hilarious, albeit blunt:
“Not tearing my ACL and my meniscus,” he said.
Entering this season, Leonard, 32, appeared in just 73 percent of the Clippers’ regular season games just once since joining the team–in 2019-20, his first in Los Angeles, where he played in approximately 79 percent (57-of-72) of them.
Leonard tore his ACL in the 2020-21 playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks, missing the entire 2020-21 season because of it. He also tore his meniscus during last year’s playoff run in late April, which caused him to miss the final three games of their first-round series against the Phoenix Suns (which ended in five games).
Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue was confident heading into the new season that the Clippers’ big stars were going to play if they were healthy amid the NBA’s new resting rules.
“If our players are healthy, they’re going to play,” Lue said at the time. “I know there’s a big thing, like, 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 our guys are healthy, they’re going to play, and that’s all we’re really focused on.”
For the Clippers’ season to continue on the right path, Leonard and George–in addition to James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell–must all remain healthy. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Their most important statistic is games played, not any other commonly refrained statistic (points, rebounds, assists, etc.). Los Angeles is currently the No. 4 seed in a very tight West, one game back of the Nuggets and 2.5 back of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Oklahoma City Thunder, who are tied for first.
If Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can remain healthy, the Clippers have as good of a shot as anyone to make it out of the Western Conference for the first time in franchise history!
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