As recent news was reassuring, with Kawhi Leonard taking part in 5-on-5 in training, the excitement around the winger’s return to competition made sense.
As announced, this was not the case Saturday at home against the Nets and Kawhi Leonard, still because of his knee, thus missed his eleventh game in a row. And it could still go on for a few more days because Paul George and Los Angeles don’t want to rush him.
“I can’t wait to see him again, when he’s ready”says the other Clippers star for OCR. “Nobody wants to put pressure on him to come back. He will come back when he comes back. We have a job to do: play and win matches. When he’s ready, he’ll be ready and it’s up to him, not us. »
The Californians have certainly lost against Brooklyn but they remain on five wins in seven games since their bad run at the end of October, with four losses in a row. And with the season just entering its first month, there’s no need to rush things with the 2014 and 2019 Finals MVP.
“I’ve known that, watching from the bench, wanting to help his teammates, wanting to play,” remembers the former Pacers and Thunder player. “But the season is long. The good news is that he plays five-on-five. That’s positive and he’s taking the steps towards a comeback at one point or another. »
| Kawhi Leonard | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Crew | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
| 2011-12 | SAN | 64 | 24 | 49.3 | 37.6 | 77.3 | 1.6 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 1.1 | 1.4 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 7.9 |
| 2012-13 | SAN | 58 | 31 | 49.4 | 37.4 | 82.5 | 1.1 | 4.9 | 6.0 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.1 | 0.6 | 11.9 |
| 2013-14 | SAN | 66 | 29 | 52.2 | 37.9 | 80.2 | 1.2 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 2.0 | 1.9 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 12.8 |
| 2014-15 | SAN | 64 | 32 | 47.9 | 34.9 | 80.2 | 1.3 | 5.9 | 7.2 | 2.5 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 0.8 | 16.5 |
| 2015-16 | SAN | 72 | 33 | 50.6 | 44.3 | 87.4 | 1.3 | 5.5 | 6.9 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 1.5 | 1.0 | 21.2 |
| 2016-17 | SAN | 74 | 33 | 48.5 | 38.0 | 88.0 | 1.1 | 4.7 | 5.8 | 3.5 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 25.5 |
| 2017-18 | SAN | 9 | 23 | 46.8 | 31.4 | 81.6 | 0.7 | 4.0 | 4.7 | 2.3 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 16.2 |
| 2018-19 | TOR | 60 | 34 | 49.6 | 37.1 | 85.4 | 1.3 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 3.3 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 26.6 |
| 2019-20 | LAKE | 57 | 32 | 47.0 | 37.8 | 88.6 | 1.0 | 6.1 | 7.1 | 4.9 | 2.0 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 0.6 | 27.1 |
| 2020-21 | LAKE | 52 | 34 | 51.2 | 39.8 | 88.5 | 1.1 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 5.2 | 1.6 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 24.9 |
| 2022-23 | LAKE | 2 | 21 | 44.4 | 16.7 | 88.9 | 2.0 | 4.5 | 6.5 | 2.0 | 2.5 | 1.5 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 12.5 |
| Total | 578 | 31 | 49.3 | 38.4 | 85.8 | 1.2 | 5.2 | 6.4 | 2.9 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 19.2 | |
