The Los Angeles Clippers, who had another disappointing postseason, recently got even more bad news as superstar forward Kawhi Leonard underwent surgery to repair a partially torn ACL that he suffered during the series against the Utah Jazz in the second round of the 2021 NBA playoffs.
The 30-year-old franchise player had been sidelined since Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Jazz due to a knee injury that would be later revealed as an ACL issue. Leonard did not play in the Western Conference Finals and the Clippers ultimately lost the series 4 games to 2 to the Phoenix Suns.
“The five-time All-Star is one of the top two-way players in basketball, averaging 24.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.6 steals per game last season. He remained efficient while shooting 51.2 percent from the field, 39.8 percent from three-point range and 88.5 percent from the free-throw line,” according to Bleacher Report.
Leonard also has a $36 million player option coming up and will arguably be the best player in the free-agent market if he chooses to look into his options and swap teams again. However, the current focus for him is to get healthy for the 2021-2022 season.
Kawhi Leonard is best known for his postseason success as he led the Toronto Raptors and the San Antonio Spurs to NBA titles winning the Finals MVP award in both wins. Unfortunately, injuries have made it so Leonard has not played 60 games in any of the last four seasons.
Kawhi Leonard will miss start of next season with ACL injury
That being said, the games he did play in were nothing short of fantastic, especially Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference Finals against the Philadelphia 76ers where Kawhi Leonard hit an amazing game-winner at the buzzer and went on to defeat the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 NBA Finals.
The fact that Kawhi might not be able to play well into next season should have the Los Angeles Clippers and their fans a bit worried as they could have trouble making it out of the Western Conference without him come playoff time.
For the time being the organization and its fans will have to wait to see how Kawhi’s rehab goes and more importantly how his knee feels when he is on the court — whenever that may be. It will be a long road back For Kawhi Leonard but the superstar will likely give it his all to come back as soon as he can and as soon as it is safe for him to play again.