Kawhi Leonard Speaks on the New Resting Policy
To nobody’s surprise, Kawhi Leonard had something to say about the NBA’s new resting policy and his image regarding load management. Since his quad injury, which he tried to manage during his time with the Raptors, Leonard has been notorious for load management. He constantly sat out at least one game during back-to-backs and it clearly worked as they won the title that year.
“I’m not a guy that’s sitting down because I’m doing load management – well, when I was with the Raptors, it was different; like, I was coming (off) an injury,” Leonard said Monday during Clippers media day. “And you have to know the details from the doctor.”
“But if the league is seeing or trying to mock what I did with the Raptors, they should stop because I was injured during that whole year. But other than that, if I’m able to play, I’ll play basketball. I work out every day in the summertime to play the game. So, no league policy is helping me to play more games.”
Leonard didn’t play on consecutive nights one time during his first year with the Clippers and has never made more than 57 appearances in a season during his time in L.A. Though injuries have continued to plague him for the past few seasons, including missing the entire 2021-22 season due to a torn ACL.
The NBA’s new resting policy does allow “star” players to sit the first or second game of a back-to-back set if they are deemed to have a serious or unusual injury history. This description definitely fits Leonard and the Clippers will likely find a workaround for him this season.
Clippers head coach Ty Lue seemed confident about Leonard’s desire to play this season and be on the court when it matters Monday.
“If our players are healthy, they’re going to play,” he said. “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.”
While Lue is correct in saying that they have been hit with unfortunate injuries, it feels like their stars never play. Paul George and Leonard have missed tons of games and the experiment revolving around them in L.A. is looking like it will end up being a bust. Multiple teams–such as the Milwaukee Bucks and Boston Celtics–made a splash this offseason while the West is deep, and it seems like the Clippers have damaged goods on massive contracts.
Some have joked that George and Leonard will play rock paper scissors to determine who gets to sit out that night. In all seriousness though, it would be nice to see what this duo is really capable of. A part of the reason the NBA made this rule change was to make sure that fans who spend their hard-earned money on tickets get the full value out of them and get to see the league’s stars play.
Hopefully, the Clippers stars can stay healthy and this rule change ends up being a positive change for the NBA.
