Kawhi Leonard got back in action. The LA Clippers star forward missed out on post-season once again with a knee injury. It heavily cost the LA side, as they exited the playoff in the first round. Not only that, they took a major blow in the off-season when Paul George decided to walk out and shake hands with the Philadelphia 76ers. Amid these testing times, the Terminator’s latest footage at Team USA’s training camp left the fans enraged.

Team USA began their 4-day training camp in Las Vegas before their trip to Europe. Superstars across the league assembled on Friday to kick-start the preparations for the Paris Olympics 2024. Tonight, the team released pictures and video clips of the scrimmages on their official social media. In those visuals, Kawhi Leonard can be seen smiling and taking good aim at the buckets.

While the neutral fans seemed happy to see a rare smile from the 2x NBA Champions, the Clippers’ fans certainly were sore about it. A fan reacting to the visuals, wrote, “As a clippers fan wtf kawhi smiling about😐” in the comments. It’s quite understandable to encounter a sore Clippers fan.

The LA team made headlines when they roped in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George into the side ahead of the 2019-20 season. However, the union didn’t make much noise apart from reaching the Conference Finals once in 2021. And it came to an end a few days ago when PG-13 decided to call it quits.

Throughout the course of their union, they struggled with injuries and inconsistencies. Some sections of fans are particularly upset with the fact that Claw recovered from his knee injury right before the Olympics while he missed out on the postseason.

NBA world swarmed over “broken” Kawhi Leonard

It’s not an easy sight to witness a smile on Leonard’s face. He has especially built a reputation for keeping a straight face in any given situation. Notably, in the 2023 off-season, images of him went viral for smiling alongside Russell Westbrook at the practice facility. However, the times have changed in a matter of a season. As a fan, looking at the star, smiling, wrote, “Kawhi is broken.” 

Another Clippers fan took the debate to the next level, asking a very important question. The fan wrote, “Explain to me why the hell Kawhi is healthy all of a sudden when he just couldn’t help the Clips.” Even though several neutral fans pitched it to defend the star, saying he had time to recover, it didn’t cool down the heated fans. Nevertheless, a neutral, adding fuel to the fire, poked fun at Leonard’s fitness, writing, “kawhi really sat out the playoffs for no reason 😹😹” 

Notably, comparing the four-year-long stint with the LA side, the 2023-24 season was the healthiest season of all for Leonard. He played 68 games, which was his most in the last 7 seasons. Nevertheless, it went in vain as he couldn’t carry it into the postseason run.

On the other hand, some neutral fans celebrated the fact that Kawhi Leonard was back in action. A fan wrote, “We got kawaii smiling in a pic before GTA 6 we in the matrix,” tapping a pop-culture reference to make his point. However, the bottom line is that the star has to keep himself healthy to win over his fans’ hearts and make them forget Paul George’s absence. Of course, by winning a ring.

Before you go, do not forget to check out Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, to open up about the infamous Shaq-Kobe feud. Keep checking this space for more such updates.