INGLEWOOD (AP) – Kawhi Leonard is fresh in mind and body this year, no longer relegated to watching from the sideline when the Los Angeles Clippers begin the post-season.
After appearing in just two playoff games over the last two years, the 33-year-old two-time Finals MVP is healthy and looking like his old self as the fifth-seeded Clippers take on the fourth-seeded Nuggets in the first round starting today in Denver.
“Just happy that I was able to get here,” he said. “My teammates did a great job down that last stretch.”
The Clippers have been a much different team since Leonard got healthy and found his rhythm. He missed the first 34 games of the season because of lingering issues with his surgically repaired knees.
Los Angeles won 18 of its final 21 games, a stretch in which it had the NBA’s Number 1 offence.
in the second-quarter of an NBA game in San Francisco, United States. PHOTO: AP
“It feels good for us and him playing at a high level helps our team out tremendously,” coach Tyronn Lue said. “I’m happy for him for all the hard work he’s put in to get to this point and to be healthy at the end of the season.”
Leonard won two NBA championships – one with San Antonio and another with Toronto – but his health has been a major issue during his five years in Los Angeles.
In 2020-21, he hurt his knee in Game 4 of the Western Conference semi-finals against Utah and missed the rest of the series. The Clippers advanced to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history and lost to Phoenix. Leonard sat out the entire 2021-22 season while rehabbing his knee. He came back strong in 2022-23 only to tear his meniscus in the first round of the playoffs. Last season, he hurt his right knee and played in just two games as the Clippers lost in the first round to Dallas.
“I love the game and I have a passion for it still,” he said. “I love to compete out there, so that’s pretty much what drives me back. Everything has its ups and downs and you got to go through those in life. You just keep going.”
Leonard has said the Clippers allowed him to seek outside opinions on his health and then blend that information with the team’s medical staff to get healthy.
“The biggest thing is just trusting,” Lue said, crediting medical staff president Maggie Bryant with showing Leonard different ways he could do things to be healthy at the end of the 82-game regular season.
