Good news for the Clippers. After starting five-on-five training a few weeks ago, Kawhi Leonard seems to have reacted well to the return to normal, to the point that, according to the journalist from ESPN Shams Charania is now ready to return to action. Concretely, the attacker’s intention is to reappear this evening during the visit of the Atlanta Hawks to the Inuit Dome, where if all goes well, he will play his first match since its inauguration.
Leonard has not played an official match since April 26, since when his situation has gradually become more complicated. The player was replaced by Derrick White on the team for the Olympics despite the fact that the Clippers claimed he was in good physical condition, subsequently he did not do the preseason with the Angelenos, and ultimately his release was announced shortly before starting the course. A loss which, announced as “indefinite”, made people fear the worst.
Life without Kawhi
However, Tyronn Lue’s team turned out to be a much more creditworthy team than expected. Despite the decline of their star and the departures of Paul George and Russell Westbrook on the market, the Angelenos have managed to stay in the fight for direct access to the playoffs with their current record of 19-15, comfortably exceeding the expectations of those who were hoping for a debacle. With James Harden and Norman Powell at the helm, they weathered the storm in exemplary fashion and it may now be their turn to look up.
Despite everything, Leonard is a player from whom we can expect caution. It seems more than likely that his first contacts will not be very intense either in terms of aggressiveness or duration, simply allowing him to get into the rhythm of the competition and get used to it again. The question is, after this slow start, how far this can go.
During the 23-24 season, Kawhi averaged 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists, numbers with which he led the Clippers who won 51 games and with which he was All- NBA. However, as is pretty much the norm at this point, he came into the playoffs damaged and barely able to be useful, which leaves us wondering every year: will things change this time around? ?
(Cover photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images)
