Kawhi Leonard should sit next season if he wants

The NBA regular season returns in two months and the arms race known as free agency is nearing a cooldown. With most significant signings now complete, the league’s formidable opponents are some of the usual suspects, but a group among them reloaded thinking towards the future of 2022/2023.  

Who else but the Los Angeles Clippers?  That’s no fault of theirs either.  Kawhi Leonard’s partially torn ACL mucked up any ambitions this team had of competing for the title last season, after round 2.  

This summer, the Clippers made the logical decision: extend Leonard for $176 million over four years.  Even with the injury, Leonard had the leverage to get an opt-out year in the final season of his deal.  However, LAC shouldn’t expect to see him back anytime soon.  Given Leonard’s history of taking the conservative approach with his health, the Clippers might reach the Playoffs as a mid-seed or perhaps through the play-in-tournament if #2 takes the year off.  

Adding to speculation that Leonard might miss the upcoming season is the significance of the trade between the Clippers and Memphis Grizzlies.  Per ESPN, Eric Bledsoe is off to LAC in exchange for Patrick Beverly, Rajon Rondo and Daniel Oturu.  This trade saves the Clippers $30 million in luxury tax penalties. Still, that development is noteworthy because it potentially indicates that owner, excuse me, governor Steve Ballmer doesn’t want to break the bank any more than he has to for a team that’s star player may never get fully healthy next season.  

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Regardless of Leonard’s injury being a partial tear, it’s still one of the more serious wounds an athlete can suffer.  Anyone who wants to break Leonard’s balls over coming back as soon as possible can kick rocks.  He was already misdiagnosed once before by the San Antonio Spurs doctors, as Peter Vecsey pointed out on the Duke Loves Rasslin podcast.  In 2017/2018, the Klaw played in nine of 82 games due to feeling pain and discomfort in his knee.  

While prioritizing health and future finances, Leonard’s relationship with the Spurs soured because he didn’t capitulate to the peer pressure of coming back too soon.  In the following offseason, Leonard, who was on the last year of his deal, was traded to the Toronto Raptors.  

Toronto, with a burning desire to keep Leonard for more than a year, was comfortable allowing him to employ his ultra-careful methods of “load management.”  It worked. In their partnership, Leonard led the Raptors to the first NBA Finals trip and came away with a ring.

The title with Toronto not only validated Leonard as the real deal, but it vindicated his character that the Spurs tried to taint.  Who can forget when Tony Parker of the Spurs said he suffered the same injury, only that his experience was 100X worse?  

Understandably, missing an entire year while collecting checks is frustrating to management and the fans, but it’s wiser to act cautious, in the Klaw or any athlete’s case, than regret it later.  Let’s not forget that Derrick Rose sat all of 2012/2013 recovering from his torn ACL.  In 2019/2020, Klay Thompson followed the same school of thought nursing his injury.  If Leonard wants to shut it down next season, the Clippers’ primary responsibility is not doing what the Spurs did, alienating him.

Shaquille O’Neal, playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, imparted his wisdom when he said, “I got hurt on company time, so I’ll rehab on it.”  O’Neal was already a made-man, a multiple-time champion, like Leonard is today.

When people show who they are, you should believe them. Leonard, close to a clean bill of health, is as lethal a player as it gets in the NBA. Just ask Toronto and San Antonio.