Kawhi Leonard just can’t catch a break. Toward the end of last season, he was limited to playing only two playoff games because of a right knee inflammation. Then, the hooper controversially withdrew his name from the Olympic roster with USA Basketball claiming that they, along with the Clippers, determined that it would be best for him to prepare for the upcoming season instead. But when everyone thought that The Klaw got enough time to rest this summer and would finally return to the court healthy, the latest updates revealed that he’s been ruled out indefinitely because of the lingering knee inflammation.

With his health becoming one of the league’s biggest mysteries, Tyronn Lue shed some light on the situation. “Yeah, I mean he felt good. He felt good, he looked good. The swelling was down, everything was going in the right direction. We had worked hard to get to that point.” So, we can now derive that following the Team USA debacle, Kawhi’s progress was in good shape as per the head coach.

However, things changed once Kawhi Leonard hit the court. “Then, once you start playing, you never know what’s gonna happen. He was in the right position to go forward and, like I said, it was just a setback.”

Upon asking when the said setback occurred, Lue continued, “After the USA trials, yeah, it was.” So, the decision to take him off the Olympics roster might’ve been the right one after all because Kawhi was not prepared to play high-level competitive games at the time.

However, then, why did Clippers President Lawrence Frank take no accountability for Kawhi’s withdrawal and blame the decision on USA Basketball? “It was USA B’s call and I was quite frankly very disappointed with the decision. Kawhi wanted to play, we wanted him to play. I was there the first two practices. He looked very good. Was a full participant in everything that they did,” the stakeholder had complained. But the hooper’s indefinite absence has put a big question mark on his health.

Kawhi Leonard’s preseason unavailability hinted at what’s to come

At this point, the report on Kawhi should not come as a big surprise, honestly. Sure enough, there have been signs over the past few weeks that he had not fully recovered from the knee inflammation. As per team assistant Brian Shaw, “He has not been a part of what we’ve been doing on a daily basis.” Yes, while the Clippers have played four preseason games so far, The Klaw has not suited up for any of them. Moreover, he did not participate in any activity involving contact during the training camp.

Further detailing his recovery process after Wednesday’s practice, Shaw said, “I know the company line has been that we’re going to be patient with him, so he’s doing everything that he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee on his own with our medical staff. And we’re just dealing with the guys that we have [available].”

Moreover, Kawhi Leonard’s absence is nothing new because he has been dealing with injuries throughout his tenure in LA. Just 3 years ago, he missed an entire season due to an ACL injury. And he has never played over seventy games in a season for the team. With him out indefinitely to start the season, the onus will now fall on James Harden to lead the charge and keep the team afloat until the two-time champion returns. What are your thoughts on Kawhi’s no-show?