Clippers Kawhi Leonard will probably get in trouble with the ‘’load management’’
The Los Angeles Clippers have started well this season if we take under consideration their record (5–3 W-L) and the fact that Kawhi Leonard has missed two games because of load management and also Paul George, who hasn’t made his debut yet but he will do soon.
Kawhi Leonard has played in 6 out of 8 games with his new team and his numbers are very good but unexpected: 29.3 points per game, 7.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.3 steals, shooting 47.4% FG, 35.5% from behind the arc and 86% from the free-throw line. All the above in 30.5 minutes per game. Leonard seems to approach this season the same way he did last season with the Toronto Raptors. He doesn’t play in back-to-back games and that looks to be the strategy he will follow again this season. Should the league be concerned about Kawhi’s load management situation? Of course. He is arguably the best player in the league right now and if he is not injured then he should play. Leonard didn’t play last night against the Milwaukee Bucks, a game that most fans would like to see due to the competition between two great teams with two great superstars: Kawhi Leonard and Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Clippers’ official designation for Leonard’s not playing was “injury/illness, load management (knee),” according to the NBA’s injury report. The NBA has been in contact with the team and they try to figure out why the player doesn’t play. It’s not about the TV Ratings or Kawhi should be forced to play. The league wants to make clear if Kawhi is injured or not and see from there. If it is just a silent deal that Leonard has done with the team and the Clippers try to cover it with fake excuses, then that’s a problem.
Kawhi will play against the Blazers tonight, but I am sure that we will hear about his load management very soon and the league will take their measures. We don’t really hear that other players do something like that and the league won’t allow it to happen. I don’t understand how even the Toronto Raptors did it last season.