INGLEWOOD — Clippers star Kawhi Leonard could easily be bitter by now. Knee injuries, especially at this time of the year, have played havoc with his career to the point that he has appeared in just two postseason games over the past two seasons.
Yet, the 33-year-old forward is just as excited to face the Denver Nuggets in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs as he was to play in the 2001 NBA Finals during his rookie year with the San Antonio Spurs.
“I love the game. I love the game, and I have a passion for it still. I love to compete out there,” Leonard said after Wednesday’s practice. “So that’s pretty much what drives me back (to playing).
“Everything has its ups and downs. You got to go through those in life and just keep going really.”
Leonard has had his share of ups and downs in his 13-year NBA career.
He has won two NBA championships – one with the Spurs and another with the Toronto Raptors – but he hasn’t stayed healthy enough during his five years with the Clippers to get his hands on another Larry O’Brien trophy.
In 2019-20, his first season with the Clippers, they were eliminated by the Denver Nuggets in the conference semifinals, squandering a 3-1 series lead in the pandemic bubble in Orlando.
The following year, Leonard was injured at the end of Game 4 of the conference semifinals against Utah and missed the remainder of the series with a knee injury. He watched from the bench as the team advanced to the conference finals for the first time in franchise history, where they lost to the Phoenix Suns.
He then missed the entire 2021-22 season while rehabbing the knee, coming back strong in 2022-23 only to tear his meniscus in the first round of the playoffs. Last season, Leonard suffered a right knee injury and played in just two games of their first-round series loss to the eventual conference champion Dallas Mavericks.
This year, after missing the first 34 regular-season games because of lingering knee problems, Leonard is healthy and looks as strong as the Leonard of old as the fifth-seeded Clippers (50-32) take on the fourth-seeded Nuggets (50-32). He drives without caution to the basket, chases loose balls, and sticks to his man on defense with little thought of his surgically repaired knees.
“I’m just happy that I was able to get here and my teammates did a great job down that last stretch,” Leonard said of the Clippers winning 18 of their final 21 regular-season games. “And yeah, just like I said, just don’t take the opportunity for granted and try to play my best and that’s it. Just having fun.
“I’m just always just about playing basketball, having fun and trying to try to use that next step and play great. And now we’re in the playoffs, (so I’m) just trying to win the game. That’s it.”
Coach Tyronn Lue smiled when asked about having the two-time Finals MVP healthy heading into what could be a grueling series against the Nuggets and three-time league MVP Nikola Jokic.
“I mean it feels good. 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,” Lue said. “Like I said, it feels good for us and him playing at a high level helps us team out tremendously so I’m glad where he’s at right now.”
After Sunday’s overtime victory over Golden State in the regular-season finale, Leonard told reporters in San Francisco that the Clippers allowed him to consult outside personnel and trainers, who then worked with the team’s medical staff to get him healthy.
Lue said trust between the parties is what helped Leonard get back on the court after missing the first 34 games of the season.
“Giving (training staff president) Maggie Bryant a chance to show him some different things and different ways to be a hundred percent at the end of the season and do things a different way (was beneficial),” Lue said. “So her, along with Kawhi’s group, did a good job. The biggest thing is just trusting.”
Leonard said he has little to prove after his injury-marred playoff past and simply wants to go as far as possible this postseason, no matter what it takes.
“It’s drilling down to maybe your last games of the season, just like how it was at the end of our season now,” Leonard said. “So now you either got four or seven times to play within that range. I think it’s just leaving it all out on the floor and then just going into the summer knowing that you tried to.”
SERIES SCHEDULE
(Best-of-seven, all times PT)
Game 1: Saturday, at Denver, 12:30 p.m. (ESPN, FSDN SoCal)
Game 2: Monday, at Denver, 7 p.m. (TNT, FSDN SoCal)
Game 3: Thurs., April 24, at L.A., time TBD (NBA TV, FSDN SoCal)
Game 4: Sat., April 26 at L.A., 3 p.m. (TV TBD, FSDN SoCal)
*Game 5: Tues., April 29, at Denver, time TBD (TV TBD, FSDN SoCal)
*Game 6: Thurs., May 1 at L.A., time TBD (TV TBD, FSDN SoCal)
*Game 7: Sat., May 3 at Denver, time TBD (TV TBD)
* – If necessary
Originally Published:
