The L.A. Clippers need to rethink their approach for next season, and new head coach Tyronn Lue might have an idea of where to start.
Lue addressed star player Kawhi Leonard’s load-management program on Wednesday. Lue said that he will have a talk with the performance staff and medical team as to whether the program will be implemented again next season, per Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints.
Leonard, who suffers from chronic tendinopathy in his quadriceps, missed 15 games for the Clippers last season. The load management did help keep him healthy. But it also came at the cost of developing on-court chemistry with his new teammates. That seemed to be a primary driving force behind the Clippers’ embarrassing second-round collapse to the Denver Nuggets.
One report had recently suggested that other Clippers were put off by the perceived special treatment for Leonard, including his load-management program (even though that has been disputed by one player). Regardless, Lue probably does need to come up with a better way to manage Leonard’s health while also not compromising the Clippers’ team-building process.
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