Sports
Clippers' Kawhi Leonard: NBA's Load Management Policy Won't Help Me Play More Games – Bleacher Report
There has been no other player in the NBA that has dealt with worse injury luck than Los Angeles Clippers’ superstar Kawhi Leonard.
The two-time Finals MVP has played no more than 57 games since joining the Clippers ahead of the 2019-20 campaign, he missed the entire 2021-22 season with an ACL tear. Therefore, he has quickly become the face of the load management trend spreading around the NBA.
So, Leonard—who has spent the vast majority of the last few years rehabbing—took umbrage with the league’s new load management policy, which he felt was targeted at him and his squad.
“I’m not a guy that’s sitting down because I’m doing load management — well, when I was with the Raptors, it was different; like, I was coming [off] an injury,” Leonard said during media day Monday. “And you have to know the details from the doctor.
“But if the league is seeing or trying to mock what I did with the Raptors, they should stop because I was injured during that whole year. But other than that, if I’m able to play, I’ll play basketball. I work out every day in the summertime to play the game. So, no league policy is helping me to play more games.”
The new policy was passed last month and states that teams are not allowed to have multiple star players unavailable for the same game, which has often occurred with Leonard and Paul George, who was traded to Los Angeles the same offseason that the former got to town.
A star player—for purposes of the policy—is a player who has been an All-Star or on an All-NBA team in any of the previous three seasons.
Teams also aren’t allowed to rest their best players for national TV and in-season tournament games, among other rules.
Leonard wasn’t too familiar with the new policy and his response came after a reporter informed him of it.
It was a big talking point throughout the day for the Clippers and coach Tyronn Lue echoed Leonard’s sentiment regarding his players’ desire to be on the court.
“If our players are healthy, they’re going to play,” Lue said. “I know there’s a big thing, like, our guys don’t like to play or whatever, but that’s not true. Our guys want to play. Unfortunately, they’ve had injuries… So, if our guys are healthy, they’re going to play, and that’s all we’re really focused on.”
Since George and Leonard joined the organization, they have each dealt with their own set of troubling injuries and haven’t been able to live up to the roster’s potential.
The superstar duo played 38 games together last season and just 142 total regular-season and postseason games combined over their four seasons in Los Angeles, going 96-46 over that span.
George is looking forward to the opportunity of being an every-night player once again, if health allows it.
“If healthy, absolutely, I’m suiting up, and I want to play every night,” George said.
