With Media Day finally here ahead of the 2024-2025 season the rest of 28 teams got underway on Monday and the Los Angeles Clippers in their newly built arena in Inglewood, California welcomed fans, as well as the media.
Some fans were allowed inside the building to get a glimpse of the new arena that owner Steve Ballmer spent Two Billion to build to help get his organization out of the shadows of the Lakers. They cheered and applauded as all the players engaged with fans throughout the day.
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The biggest question that fans wanted to know was the health update of superstar Kawhi Leonard who has already reported to be “held out of drills in next week’s training camp to get him back to full strength” when the team leaves for Hawaii on Tuesday.
“We’re taking it day by day,” Leonard said when asked about his health. Everything has been going great for the past month. We are being very cautious for reasons in the past. I haven’t been able to finish some playoff runs, so I am making sure I am healthy for those important moments.”
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This has been the biggest concern surrounding Leonard not just the regular season, but heading into the playoffs, if LA plays well enough to get there. He hasn’t been able to finish any of the last three playoff runs for LA dating back to the 2020-2021 season. Head coach Ty Lue updated the media last week regarding Leonard’s health at a press conference prior to Media Day.
“We just have to go step-by-step and make sure he is checking all the boxes,” Lue said. “The medical staff is going to tell us when he is ready to do everything and what he can do.”
Leonard said “that’s the plan” in regards to him being ready for his team’s season opener against Phoenix. “I never plan to miss games.…It all depends on how my body is feeling, but I think it’s a positive thing to think I will play, but we are taking it day-by-day.”
Now without his sidekick Paul George whom he came over to LA with back in the summer of 2020, who signed with Philly this offseason, he knows with him not being on the court will make things that much more difficult for this team to find ways to win.
Chrys Henderson is a writer for Ball Exclusives. You can follow him on X @ChrysNBA.
