Another season, another injury-plagued campaign for Kawhi Leonard. What else is new?

The LA Clippers star has dealt with countless injuries and missed time since his 2016-17 run while with the San Antonio Spurs, where he was arguably a top 3 player on offense and defense, and anchored one of the league’s best teams – he did win a championship with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, but still.

Leonard has only had two fairly healthy regular seasons over the last seven years.

  • 2017-18 (SAS): 73 missed games
  • 2018-19 (TOR): 22 missed games
  • 2019-20 (LAC): 25 missed games
  • 2020-21 (LAC): 20 missed games
  • 2021-22 (LAC): Missed entire season
  • 2022-23 (LAC): 30 missed games
  • 2023-24 (LAC): 14 missed games

Making it worse is he has also failed to finish each of his last three playoff appearances:

  • 2022 West Semis vs. the Utah Jazz – ACL tear – out after Game 4. LAC won the series, lost in the WCF.
  • 2023 West 1st Round vs. the Phoenix Suns – torn meniscus – out after Game 2. LAC lost, 4-1.
  • 2024 West 1st Round vs.  the Dallas Mavericks – knee – out after Game 2. LAC lost, 4-2.
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With all the constant setbacks despite the load managing and supposed recovery he’s done, there are suggestions that he should probably consider retirement:

But, of course, why would he do that when he just signed a three-year, $153 million extension this past January? 

That then brings us to the Clippers side of things.

The massive extension was part of the reason why they were hesitant to re-sign Paul George since it kept the team’s pockets short (aside from the injuries), which then caused George to sour on the front office and eventually bolt for the Philadelphia 76ers. Further, the Clipps will also debut in its newly-built Intuit Dome that amounted to $2 billion. They need to make quick returns from that enormous investment, but how would they be able to do that with a scarcity of stars?

With Leonard hurt, and George and Russell Westbrook both gone, James Harden is the only healthy Clipps star on deck. Shades of his once-unguardable game are still there, but at 35 years old, he can’t consistently score like the old days anymore, and would need ample help from others. 

“The Beard” would be mainly leaning on Clipper mainstays Norman Powell, Terrence Mann, Ivica Zubac, and Bones Hyland for support. Though all can be more than serviceable whenever they are on, it’s not a safe bet under Harden as we’ve seen how quickly he could zone out when he’s not feeling his teammates or the scheme he’s on. Off-season signees Kevin Porter Jr., Derrick Jones Jr., and Kris Dunn would also be there, but other than Jones, the fit might be a question mark with James’ ball-dominant ways.

Harden and company will have their work cut out for them as the West are strong as ever, especially with the Memphis Grizzlies back into contention and the Oklahoma City Thunder primed for an even better year, which are both beyond the other top teams in the conference.

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