Kawhi Leonard discusses road back to health as Clippers ride hot streak

Riding an eight-game winning streak, the Los Angeles Clippers can poke fun at their recent history.

Kawhi Leonard, along with Paul George, had been viewed as the epitome of the much-maligned load management approach taken by NBA teams in recent seasons. In a story on the two stars by ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, Leonard addressed being one of the catalysts for the player participation policy the NBA adopted in response to seeing too many star players missing nationally televised games with a joke after playing both ends of a back-to-back for the second time in a week.

"We should sue for — what do they call it? — negligence," the San Diego native said.

Leonard has played all 26 games this season while George has only missed one game due to a sore hip. Prior to the 2023-24 campaign, they had only played 142 regular-season and playoff games together since going to L.A. in 2019. More importantly for the Clippers is that James Harden, who was traded to the team by the Philadelphia 76ers, has found his flow with the duo after an ugly six-game losing streak upon his arrival.

The profile overall is a revealing look at how both Leonard and George are still fighting against the perceptions that they are injury-prone and that they held more influence over their playing statuses than team management. There were also comments from the team's president of basketball operations (and former NBA head coach) Lawrence Frank, who defended the players from the overwhelming criticism.

Leonard told Youngmisuk that his injuries didn't just snowball when he came to the Clippers, but had been an accumulation of issues going back to his days with the San Antonio Spurs. Now, he's finally getting back to his better self, a player who was once considered the best two-way talent in the league:

"It was years trying to get through that wall," Leonard said of getting himself back to this point after a win at the Sacramento Kings on Nov. 29. "I've been dealing with this right knee injury for a while, since 2016-17. Even going through the Raptors' run, that being my first year going so far [again] just put another toll on it.

"Now, I feel good coming out of games, and I don't feel any [pain]. So, I just want to keep going, and that's my goal is just to stay healthy, and the rest will play itself out."

With its current win streak, Los Angeles has catapulted to the sixth seed in the Western Conference with a 16-10 record, ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans and their co-tenants at Crypto.com Arena, the Lakers. As the season wears on, it wouldn't come as a complete shock if the Clippers try some lesser form of load management despite the good health and vibes around Leonard and George.