Kawhi Leonard said Monday his goal is to play in the Clippers’ regular-season opener against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23.
But Leonard continues to deal with inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee and that’s why there has been some uncertainty about when he’ll be healthy enough to play, especially after reports that he had procedures on the knee over the summer.
The Clippers’ plan is to limit Leonard’s activity in training camp, which starts Tuesday in Hawaii.
Leonard was asked if he planned on starting for the Clippers on opening night.
“That’s the plan,” he said at the Clippers’ media day at Intuit Dome. “I never plan to miss games, but it just about my body. I’m a human being and we’re playing basketball, so it all depends on what we want and what we figure out and how my body is feeling. But right now I think it is a positive thing to think that I will play. But we take it day by day.”
Leonard, 35, sat out the final eight regular-season games last season and played in only two in the Clippers’ first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks because of the right knee.
He was later sent home from USA Basketball practice because of the knee issue. And Leonard, who played in 68 games last season, still is having knee problems.
With his three-year, $152.4-million contract kicking in this season, Leonard was asked if he’ll have to deal with a knee situation the rest of his career.
“It can get that way,” he said. “But there’s not really … We got a sense of how we did get to that point. …There’s things we could do to prolong me playing throughout the season.”
Leonard has a history of knee problems. He suffered a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee that sidelined him for the 2021-22 season, a meniscus tear during the 2023 playoffs and now the inflammation.
Yet, Leonard has pressed forward, leading to questions about what motivates him to keep playing when his body keeps breaking down.
“I could play,” he said. “I played my most games that I have in a long time last year, played 68 games. [I] was one of the guys that probably didn’t take a rest break earlier on in that season, but just keep going.
“Obviously, last two years I came back from ACL and been injured and it’s a progression for me. It was successful for us last year. Obviously from a fan base or just from my own competitive nature, we didn’t reach a goal, but the grand scheme of things, how my body has been doing it, it was a good year. I went from zero games [in ’21-22] to 52 [in ’22-23] to 68 [last season], so let’s see if I could keep it going from there.”
Leonard will be without his sidekick, Paul George, who departed for the Philadelphia 76ers over the summer.
That will mean that James Harden, who signed a two-year, $70-million extension, will have to increase his production for the Clippers to compete.
Harden has heard the noise about the Clippers not being as good as they were last season when they finished fourth in the Western Conference, and about how they may not be a top-six team this season and may have to struggle to be in the top 10 for a play-in spot.
He’s not having it.
“Outsiders or people that are analysts, or whatever you want to call them, really don’t have high expectations for us,” Harden said. “So we have high expectations for ourselves. And me individually. I’ve never missed a playoffs in my entire career. So I feel like that our entire team, we got a lot to prove for me as a leader.
“There’ve been a lot of situations where teams ‘quote unquote’ [weren’t] good enough and we made people believe in us. You know what I mean? So I feel like this is another opportunity for that. We got a lot of guys in this locker room that’s on that mindset. So, I’m excited for what we have.”
The Clippers added some new players, but the most controversial transaction was signing guard Kevin Porter Jr. to a two-year deal. Porter was arrested Sept. 11, 2023, on suspicion of assaulting a female companion at a New York City hotel, leading the Houston Rockets to ban him from team-related activities. The Rockets traded Porter to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who waived him. Porter spent last season in Greece.
Porter said Monday that he’ll accept whatever punishment the NBA hands down but that he is grateful to be back in the league.
“Whatever, I’m accountable for whatever comes,” Porter said “The league [is] going to do what the league does and I’m ready for it. So, I’ve been getting ready for this season and nothing else really is going to provoke that. …For me, I’m just blessed to have this opportunity to be back doing what I love and being in L.A., you can’t complain about it. So, it’s just very beautiful.”
