Head coach Ty Lue let it be known that Kawhi Leonard isn’t faking his injuries for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Lue dismissed the negative notion about Leonard in his recent appearance on the Stephen A. Smith Show, arguing that the Clippers superstar was even beyond frustrated and emotional about how health circumstances don’t usually align in his favor.
“I just want to let people know from Kawhi’s standpoint, like for him, it’s more frustrating,” Lue argued. “He wants to be on the floor, he wants to play every single night, and it’s just a bad timing. … It’s been some tough days and nights.
I’ve talked to Kawhi and there are nights where he’s almost crying just talking about how he’s let the team down. But you can’t do anything about injuries. He’s another guy that works extremely hard every single day to be on the floor. It’s just some unfortunate luck. Like one day, he has 35 [points] and the next day, he doesn’t play. It’s not by design. This guy works hard every single day.“
Leonard has yet to play this 2024-25 NBA season due to the nagging soreness in his surgically repaired right knee. In the last five years, the two-time Finals MVP only logged 229 total regular season games as injuries have been frequent for his side, limiting the Clippers’ chances to fully compete for that elusive title.
His constant absences since joining the Clippers have drawn massive criticism across the NBA world. As such, several personalities like ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith blatantly ripped Kawhi and even called him “the worst superstar in the history of any sport.”
But for Lue, no one should ever question Leonard’s desire to play as the All-Star just simply endures a rough basketball misfortune. For the Clippers mentor, the 29-year-old remains dedicated to his craft despite the depressing situation he’s been dealing with about his health.
“Kawhi is a hell of a worker. He’s a hard worker, a top-five player when he’s healthy. It’s just unfortunate with the injury bug. It’s not from a lack of working or wanting to be on the floor,” Lue added.
Even without their main man and after the critical offseason departure of Paul George, the Clippers deserve tons of credit for staying afloat From being underestimated by many before the season began, Los Angeles is strongly defying the odds with a current 14-10 record that puts them at the sixth spot of the West.
All credit goes to James Harden as the former league MVP has embraced the leadership role for the Clippers. But Norman Powell has been a major revelation in the team’s stellar play, building up a potential All-Star year with averages of a career-best 23.9 points in 50.5 percent shooting to go with 2.9 boards and 2.4 assists.
There’s been major speculation right now that Leonard could find himself ready to play and make his season debut before Christmas. Nevertheless, Lue has his fingers crossed that his entire group will all be injury-free in preparation for a desired championship hunt.
“If we have been healthy, I think we could win at a high level. It’s just that we haven’t had that opportunity,” Lue said. “So hopefully this year, Kawhi’s been working really hard. He’s getting close, he’s been doing everything he needs to do.
“Hopefully this year, we can have a strong, deep run when he comes back.”
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