Clippers coach Tyronn Lue doesn’t see any chance Kawhi Leonard will miss the upcoming season because of inflammation in his right knee, but the team has “no timetable” for when the All-Star forward will play in a game.
The Clippers open the regular season Wednesday night against the Phoenix Suns in their brand new arena, the Intuit Dome, and then have back-to-back games at Denver and Golden State next weekend.
Leonard will not play in any of those games as he strengthens his knee.
Because of his injured knee history, Lue was asked about the chances Leonard will miss the entire 2024-24 campaign.
“I don’t see those chances, but I’m not a doctor, either,” Lue said before the Clippers played their last preseason game against the Sacramento Kings at home on Thursday night. “But I don’t see those chances.”
Lue said the team’s plan is to let Leonard get healthy and play him when the knee responds the right way.
“Like we said from Day 1, it’s going to take some time,” Lue said of Leonard’s recovery. “He’s going to progress. He’s doing all the right things. He’s working hard and he’s looking good. So, there’s no timetable, or nothing like that. Nothing has changed from Day 1. Still working to get him to where we’re trying to get him too. And, so, until he’s 100% and he’s able to go and we have no concerns about him doing anything different. Then we just got to continue to follow the path we’ve been on so far.”
When asked if Leonard’s knee has to be 100% healthy before he can play in a game, Lue said, “Yes.”
The Clippers started training camp in Hawaii on Oct. 1 and have been practicing in Inglewood since returning home, but Leonard hasn’t practiced with the team.
Lue was asked when will Leonard be able to do on-court practice with his teammates.
“He’s feeling good,” Lue said. “He’s progressing. He’s going in the right direction, doing all the right things. So, soon he will be on the court, but not yet.”
Leonard, 35, missed the final eight regular-season games last season and played in just two of the Clippers’ first-round playoff series games against the Dallas Mavericks because of his knee injury.
He was sent home from USA basketball practice before the Olympics in July because of the knee issue, with the goal of getting the knee ready for the start of the season.
Lue, an assistant coach on the U.S. basketball team, said Leonard was doing well before he was removed from the American roster.
“I mean, he felt good, he looked good,” Lue said. “The swelling was down. Everything was going in the right direction. So, he had worked hard to get to that point and then once you start playing, you never know what’s going to happen. But he was in position, we thought, in the right position to go forward. It was a setback. That was unfortunate.”
After being sent home from Las Vegas, Lue maintained that Leonard hasn’t had a setback.
“No setbacks, just working towards the goal,” Lue said. “Like I said, he looks good. He’s working hard to get to where we need him to get to and there hasn’t been any setbacks, no.”
Leonard, who played in 68 games last season, is in the first year of his three-year, $152.4-million deal.
He has dealt with injuries since signing with the Clippers as a free agent in 2019.
Leonard suffered a partial tear of an 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 knee inflammation that is impacting his playing time across two seasons.
He has played in just 229 out of the 410 regular-season games since joining the Clippers.
“For me, I think the guys understand we’re going to compete, we’re going to play hard, we’re going to win until Kawhi gets back,” Lue said. “We’re going to hold it down until he gets back, and that’s those guys’ mindset. As much as Kawhi wants to be on the floor and the hard work he’s putting in to get there, we’re going to hold down until he gets back.”
