Kawhi Leonard confirms his knee feels ‘good’ but prefers to take things slow

Kawhi Leonard has had his fair share of injuries throughout his NBA career, and now he’s waiting to make a full recovery so he can contribute to the Clippers’ title quest from the start of the season. However, he insists that it is better to take things slow before jumping into any premature decisions.

Things are clear for the Los Angeles veteran, who wants to prevent his pain from becoming a problem later in the campaign, although he admitted to the media that his right knee feels “fine.” The outfielder is spending much of his training camp in Hawaii strengthening his knee, which was surgically repaired this offseason.

At the moment, he explained that the team has no plans for him to participate in consecutive games. “I feel good,” Kawhi told reporters during halftime of the Clippers’ 91-90 preseason loss. “I was just taking my time, getting stronger and preparing myself.

Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard says his knee feels fine after the team’s first preseason game.

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) October 6, 2024

“… We’re just taking it one step at a time, day by day and just trying to get me back down. Once those talks come, we’ll see what they talk about [on the best approach for back-to-backs],” he then emphasized when the game was over.

The 33-year-old played in 68 regular season games last season, the most he has played in seven years, but missed his team’s last eight games, including the playoffs. This coming year, the two-time Finals MVP wants to play as many games as possible.

“This is what I’m working for,” he said this weekend. “I’m fighting for the title and I’m not here to try [solely] play 82 games. I’m trying to win, though [playing as much as I can] that is an obligation for me. I’m trying. But it didn’t work [the last two postseasons] so we’ll see.”

However, Leonard later revealed how he is trying to prevent the inflammation from returning. “It’s not really based on how I feel,” Kawhi said. “It’s more than just listening to the doctors and seeing what I can do to prevent what I’ve been doing because I’ve been doing a lot – a lot of things that might have led me to where I am now.

Former Raptors star DeMar DeRozan offers this verdict on why the Toronto club still won the title in 2019 even without Kawhi.

Back when the Raptors secured their first ever NBA title back in the 2018-19 campaign, Kawhi Leonard spent most of the contest injured on the sidelines. This is one of the reasons why DeMar DeRozan, who was wearing a Toronto jersey, believed that this team did not really need the Clippers star to win the Larry O’Brien Trophy.

What’s curious about this, is that it was the same trade that brought Leonard to Canada, which eventually sent DeRozan to Texas. This has been ranked for years as one of the most important aspects of Toronto’s surprise competition over the past five years.

The veteran player, who is today preparing to play for the first time for the Kings this season, spoke about this topic in last Thursday’s edition of First Takeand host Stephen A. Smith. “Never tarnish the name of those boys. They won it. They deserve it. I finally got to the point where I enjoyed them. But sure. I definitely feel that way. The only person we couldn’t beat was LeBron James.

“That’s just what it was. I felt like the year we had before was over, we just needed one more episode to push it to the top. That clip was LeBron going West and I never got a chance to see what would have happened. But with a lot of confidence in me, I have no doubt in my mind that the same result could have happened,” he confirmed.