NBA champion Kawhi Leonard has set his step on the court starting with the 2023-24 season. The basketball star had an ACL injury during the second round of the 2021 Western Conference finals and had to miss out on the entire 2021-22 season. Kawhi Leonard had another setback with his meniscus tear in his right knee earlier this year, during his Game 1 and 2 in the first-round series against the Phoenix Suns, and had to miss out on Games 3-5.
Kawhi Leonard Has Fully Healed From His ACL and Meniscus Injuries
Kawhi Leonard appeared confident and fully prepared to play his best game, putting his previous injuries behind him. Before practice on Tuesday, he revealed details about his injury in an interview with ESPN, expressing that he is presently feeling good, and sharing his experience of dealing with injuries.
“I feel good and I’m ready to go. I think last year came off of ACL, so pretty much it’s like a two-year process. Talking to guys [who suffered ACL injuries] and seeing when they do start feeling good or just trusting your knee, it’s just something that you feel and I mean one day just turns around for you. So it wasn’t really nothing too different.”
Kawhi Leonard got to play 52 games last season, averaging 23.8 points, 6.0 assists, and 6.5 rebounds per game, one of his lowest outputs since 2017-18 with the Spurs. However, he did not lose hope and continued to overcome his struggles, being in his best form.
“It’s about how your overall body’s feeling at the time, and I felt like I was still trying to get through some humps and just get healthy, but I was able to show fans or other players in the league and myself that I was able to play at a high level … I was just trying to get healthy, just trying to move, and I knew the numbers would come. I wasn’t really focused on that at the time.”
The Clippers finished last season with a record of 44-38 and qualified for the playoffs, but they were eliminated in the first round by the Suns. On Wednesday night, the Clippers were short-handed against the Portland Trail Blazers, as Terance Mann and Bones Hyland were missing due to ankle injuries.
“On-court stuff, you’re going to have ups and downs. If you’re rating a game off of missed shots or minutes played, it is tough to try to measure yourself to being a great player. But at that point [last regular season] I was just trying to get healthy, just trying to move, and I knew numbers would come. I wasn’t really focused on that at the time. Trying to win games, that’s what I’m focused on.”
Head coach Tyronn Lue is ready to get a good start with the season as Leonard is back on the court with his full prowess. He seems determined, as he has no intention of taking this season easy, which was proved in the last opening match. Clippers took charge from the beginning of the game and swiftly headed to a 123-111 victory.
It’s different when you have restrictions. You can’t play live the whole time, you can’t go through all the execution plays you want to go through, and so it’s a big difference, and so like I said, with him and [Paul George] and [Russell Westbrook] coming in this year, just setting the tone early in training camp, all the conditioning, with all the running we did, like, no complaining and we just did it. And so that was our mindset coming into it. We want to get out to a good start this season. We don’t want to ease into the season.”
