The LA Clippers fans are beyond excited for the season. They now have a new $2 billion home in Inglewood – the Intuit Dome. All they now need is a championship, and it’s going to come full circle. However, a key piece of this squad seems to have a delay in the schedule already. Kawhi Leonard may not be ready in time for the season opener against the Phoenix Suns on October 23. Leonard, who dealt with inflammation in his surgically repaired knee last season, suiting up has a lot riding on how he progresses over the next month.

The Clippers’ President of Basketball Operations, Frank Lawrence, provided crucial information as we get closer to the regular season. According to Tomer Azarly, “Lawrence Frank says Kawhi Leonard has been encouraged by the progress that he’s seen in his knee recovery. Frank adds that Kawhi Leonard’s availability for opening night will depend on how his knee progresses over the next month.”

In addition, Azarly also reported that the ‘Klaw’ “will be held out of certain drill work to open Clippers training camp. They will focus on strengthening and loading.” Last season, Kawhi played the most games (68) with the Clippers since he arrived in LA. The team was looking to capitalize on that advantage and aim for a deep playoff run. With Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and the late addition, James Harden, they had a talent-heavy squad that ideally should’ve taken them all the way. But we saw how that turned out.

Moreover, Leonard’s right knee inflammation turned out to be a real headache, causing him to miss the final 8 games of the regular season. To add insult to injury, the Clippers lost in the first-round playoffs to the Mavericks, which saw him play in just two of those games. However, in those two games, the 33-year-old averaged 12.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists on 45.8% shooting.

There is no denying that the man, when healthy, is simply a threat. And although there is uncertainty surrounding his return, injuries have always been Kawhi’s Achilles heel when it comes to productivity. In fact, it was what kept him out of the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Unraveling the mystery: Kawhi Leonard’s controversial Olympics departure

Pulling Kawhi Leonard out of the 2024 Paris Olympics was a highly controversial move on the part of USAB. Despite all the reasons they put forth, the implication was clear – the program was concerned with the hooper’s right knee. But we never really got the full picture of what went down. And Lawrence Frank was only too happy to fill us in on the details. In his media availability, he clarified what he saw from the 6x All-Star during the training camp until now. “Obviously, he was cleared medically. I watched him prepare for it. I was there at the first 2 practices. I was really disappointed that they didn’t give him a longer runway.”

“Many players deal with swelling. So there’s a point of match-well swelling and there’s a point where, ‘okay, if it gets worse, that’s when it could’ve further risk of injury.’ With all that said, the swelling did subside the way that we thought from a timing standpoint and it just took a little bit longer for the swelling to get to where its at now. I’m encouraged that it’s happened now and we want to keep it where it stays that way for the entire year,” Azarly tweeted.

Grant Hill, representing USA-B, was full of praise for Kawhi’s willingness to sacrifice his body and summer to play for the country. “I know what it’s like to want to do something and your body’s just not right. And I’ve lived that personally,” the Executive Director for Team USA shared via Tim Bontemps, ultimately choosing Derrick White in the place of the 2x NBA champ. Needless to say, it resulted in chaos. But this diplomatic stand did not fool Frank Lawrence.

“It was USAB’s call, and I was quite frankly very disappointed with the decision,” he said to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. In fact, Frank added that he was at the facility for the first two games, where the veteran forward was a “full participant in everything that they did.” But the one game he wasn’t present for, the third one, was also apparently the time they decided to pull the plug.

Looking at the positive side of things, while the decision might’ve robbed Leonard of a final chance at an Olympic run, it did give him time to recuperate. And although Kawhi, who can be the best two-way hooper on his day, may miss the season opener, hopefully, he can stay healthy long enough for the Clippers to push further for that Larry O’Brien title. While Derrick Jones Jr. was a good inclusion to fill the PG void, he isn’t Paul George. However, a Harden-Leonard duo should be enough to clinch a top-six at the bare minimum.

Before leaving, do watch the Dual Threat Show hosted by BG12 where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger details her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY picks, and more in the video below.