The Los Angeles Clippers found themselves with a 23-24 record in mid-January but have since then found a way to get back on track. One of the big reasons for the turnaround had been Kawhi Leonard’s excellent play, with the Klaw very much looking like his best self after a slow start to the season.
His last 10 games have seen Kawhi average 27.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 4.7 APG, and 2.0 SPG on 50-40-90 shooting splits, which is simply stunning. The Clippers though have been carefully managing his workload, as he isn’t playing back-to-backs but they have been a bit too cautious at times.
The latest example came on Friday night when it was announced that Kawhi wouldn’t play against Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks due to precautionary reasons. It is the 27th game he has missed this season and NBA fans reacted to his absence.
Kawhi Leonard is missing tonight’s game for “precautionary reasons”, say the Clippers.
His 27th missed game this season. pic.twitter.com/CkwXOoVaAf
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) February 11, 2023
“Kawhi ‘Street Clothes’ Leonard”
“It’s more breaking news when Kawhi decides to play”
“They just making stuff up at this point”
“Kawhi Leonard is not motivated to play”
“I’m gonna ask my job if I can show up half the time and still get paid for full time. Let’s see how it goes…”
“Lol, just play. My goodness.”
“kawhi (depressed about russell westbrook joining the team) will miss tonight’s game”
“That’s embarrassing!”
“He’s not even a part time employee at this point. Kawhi is seasonal”
“But ad is street clothes”
“He prob told Them straight up, I’m only here for the playoffs. Get me there and I will do the rest.”
“Lmao Mr. Load Management”
“His career been done since he left the raptors”
“He treating the Nba like it’s a Part Time Job lmfaoo”
“SOFTEST PLAYER IN THE LEAGUE”
“Even Pop never thought of that one.”
“Load management King”
“This is ridiculous!!!”
“Been taking precautions for 5 years”
“He not built for this “
To be fair to Kawhi, he did play 10 out of 12 games prior to this one, so he has been on the court quite often. What makes this precautionary absence a bit weird though, is that Clippers’ next game after this is on Tuesday, so he’d have a fairly long break after tonight anyway. He had also mentioned recently that the Clippers have a lot of catching up to do after the slow start and that would be a lot easier for them if he plays games like this one.
Kawhi Leonard Reacted To Kevin Durant Being Traded To The Suns
Before the season, the Clippers were picked by many as the favorite to win the Western Conference. They had arguably the deepest roster in the league to go with Leonard and Paul George, but things haven’t gone as smoothly as hoped, with their two stars missing so much time.
The Clippers then got a bit of a jolt earlier this week when the Mavericks traded for Kyrie Irving and got a bigger one after that when Kevin Durant joined the Suns. Leonard didn’t give away much when reacting to the KD news but he definitely would have thought deep down that it’s suddenly going to be a lot tougher for them to get to the NBA Finals.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
