Kawhi Leonard seems ready to return to basketball.
The Los Angeles Clippers updated Leonard’s status from out to questionable on their injury report Friday night, suggesting he could make his season debut on Saturday when the team faces the Atlanta Hawks.
Leonard has been recovering from a right knee injury and hasn’t played since April 26, when he participated in Game 3 of the Clippers’ first-round playoff series against Dallas. He missed 12 of the Clippers’ final 14 games last season due to right knee inflammation.
Despite this, Leonard felt he was healthy enough to play for USA Basketball at the Paris Olympics this past summer. He was selected for the Olympic team and brought to Las Vegas for training camp.
However, the U.S. team decided his knee couldn’t handle the demands of playing and sent him home, replacing him with Derrick White on the team that eventually won gold at the Paris Games.
Leonard is a two-time NBA champion, six-time All-Star, and six-time All-NBA player. However, injuries have been a common issue throughout his career.
Over the past eight years, he has missed 290 regular-season games, including the entire 2021-22 season due to knee problems. Last season, he played 68 games for the Clippers, his highest total since playing 74 games for San Antonio in the 2016-17 season.
“This is just my journey,” Leonard said this past summer when talking about his injuries. “I can’t lay out the perfect script for me. Last year I tried to play as much as possible, felt great and at a certain period of time I couldn’t go. I tried the best that I could, but it’s just my journey. … I motivate a lot of people, so I’ve got to keep doing what I’m doing.”
Leonard, a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, has averaged 20 points per game in his career.
