The will-he, won't-he drama of Kawhi Leonard's Game 1 availability
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank spoke on Thursday about Kawhi Leonard's situation.
PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — Kawhi Leonard appears to be on pace to miss Game 1 on Sunday as the LA Clippers and Dallas Mavericks prepare to face one another. Maybe. Perhaps. It’s hard to say.
It depends on who you talk to and who’s even willing to talk. It depends on how you can read tea leaves and smoke signals and chicken bones.
“That’s not for me to answer,” Clippers guard Norman Powell said on Tuesday afternoon.
It’s as if the CIA has sprung into action and erected a shadow facility where the Clippers’ training facility currently resides. Few answers, a lot of speculation, and even more mystique. Even the CIA gives you something.
It’s that mystery and unknown nature that leads us to this point.
Game 1 sits on Sunday afternoon. We’re quickly speeding towards its inevitable beginning. And yet, no one for sure knows whether or not the Clippers’ best player, forward Kawhi Leonard, will be able to suit up for it. Or, if they do know, the Clippers Intelligence Agency is not spilling the beans.
On Thursday, president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank spoke to gathered media at the team’s practice facility. It was an impromptu press conference that caught most in the room by surprise. But it ultimately made sense when factoring that Clippers coach Tyronn Lue had grown frustrated on Wednesday afternoon by the abundance of Leonard-centric questions before then apologizing to reporters for his annoyance.
“I know obviously it’s a question you guys ask [coach Lue] all the time, so just wanted to be a bit of context,” Frank said.
Then the context came. So to speak.
Frank went on to say that Leonard is still dealing with right knee inflammation, something Leonard has dealt with a few times over the last couple of seasons since returning from a torn right anterior cruciate ligament and meniscus.
“He’s doing everything [to return],” Frank announced. “Our medical staff is doing everything to get the inflammation down so he can play. Progress has been made, but more progress needs, the inflammation needs to continue to reduce so he can do functional basketball movements.”
Beyond the fact that the inflammation persists, at least according to Frank, the lack of being able to do “functional basketball movements” at this juncture is a cause for some concern, at least if we have this to go by.
Frank iterated that the Clippers are “hopeful” that Leonard is “going to get there” as far as on-court work and participation. However, Leonard has still yet to do any sort of contact and has not yet taken part in five-on-five scrimmages or practice sessions. Leonard has been restricted to “mental preparation” such as film study and personnel review, according to Frank.
“The one thing I would share with you is that inflammation’s unpredictable,” Frank said. “So, we’d love to have a crystal ball, and Kawhi would love to have a crystal ball, and know exactly on this day [that he’d return], but just you just control what you can control and hopefully the inflammation reduces in a short amount of time and he’s back on the court. That’s the goal.”
When asked later if this was linked to the absence Leonard had at the beginning of the 2022-23 season, when Leonard missed 23 days from Oct. 25 to Nov. 15 for a similar issue, Frank rebuffed the notion: “Different. Yeah, different. Everything structurally is in a really, really good place. So this is just, like I said, it’s just some very, very stubborn inflammation.”
Kawhi Leonard will be listed as questionable for Sunday’s Game 1, Frank went on to say. However, that doesn’t mean he will actually play. There are questions about his availability, as Frank went over.
“I’m trying to be as transparent as possible,” Frank remarked. “It is just very unpredictable. So if things continue to get better and better, there’s a chance. So we’ll be hopeful, but just to get ahead of it, he’ll be questionable for Game 1.”
But Frank did elaborate and specify that there is no structural issue in Leonard’s surgically repaired right knee, saying: “Everything is solid and intact. So it’s just inflammation.”
“There is no gamesmanship here,” Frank would go on to say.
“We’re very sensitive of the fact that questions are going to be asked and want to be as transparent as possible. And also it’s okay to say what the truth is. It’s unpredictable. We’re hoping it’s trending in the right direction. … Look, there’s no one who’s more frustrated than Kawhi, who desperately wants to be out there to play — and you just control what you can control.”
Frank did mention that the Clippers are avoiding any contact work with Leonard at this point to “reduce any pounding.”
This has been the story with Leonard’s tenure in Los Angeles. There’s mystery and intrigue and even some will-he, won’t-he. Truth is, we don’t know.
But, at least on the surface, there was some positive news from Frank on the day.
“Structurally, everything’s very sound,” Frank said. “And we’re dealing with the inflammation so he can make functional basketball movements.”
And so continues the slow grind towards Game 1 on Sunday, with the public perception being that Kawhi Leonard’s status is tucked squarely up in the air and left in the caring hands of the gods of inflammation and basketball.
If someone within the Clippers knows if the questionable designation Leonard is slapped with will move to available, they’re not telling. At least not publicly. ‘Tis the discreet and delicate nature of the Clippers Intelligence Agency.
They leave you guessing. You, me, everyone. It’d be endearing if it wasn’t so frustrating.
Perhaps Kawhi Leonard will play on Sunday. Perhaps he doesn’t. We’ll find out soon enough.
Maybe.