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LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard’s return will begin with him coming off the bench for the LA Clippers of their opener Thursday night time in opposition to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Clippers coach Ty Lue stated the choice to deliver Leonard off the bench whereas on a minutes restriction was a collaborative choice between the star and the group’s medical workers — one which was based totally on how Leonard is feeling.
Lue additionally stated the choice was about how the Clippers wish to unfold out Leonard’s restricted minutes to begin the season.
“Simply wish to have him for the top of the sport, if we’d like him,” Lue stated earlier than the sport. “Only for him, he needed to do no matter is greatest for the group. And I simply thought no matter is greatest for him, no matter makes him really feel higher. Being out for 15 months, what was the most effective factor for him so far as well being smart and the way he would really feel.”
Requested if this was Leonard’s concept, Lue stated, “how he feels, sure.”
Lue additionally revealed that Reggie Jackson will begin at level guard whereas John Wall, who sat out all of final season whereas with the Houston Rockets, will run with the second unit.
Leonard hasn’t performed in a significant recreation since tearing his proper ACL in Recreation 4 of the second spherical in opposition to the Utah Jazz again on June 14, 2021. He performed restricted minutes in two of the 4 Clippers’ preseason video games. Lue stated this choice was not primarily based on any setbacks to Leonard’s return.
“Good,” Leonard stated on Wednesday when requested how he bodily got here out of the preseason. “I nonetheless really feel good. Shifting in the precise route. Actually have not been no flare ups or setbacks, so I really feel good.”
That is Leonard’s first recreation coming off the bench since his third season with the San Antonio Spurs in 2013-14 when he performed as a reserve on Nov. 10 on the New York Knicks.
Leonard stated that he doesn’t play any five-on-five basketball in the course of the offseason and that he usually does not accomplish that till coaching camp. Coming off his ACL damage, Leonard stated he just about spent 12-13 months within the health club figuring out and including extra muscle.
Lue stated the Clippers scrimmaged “about two or three” instances with Leonard coming off the bench over the previous week.
“We had an opportunity to deliver him off the bench, begin him, see how he appears and feels,” Lue stated. “That is what he felt comfy with and clearly what we’re going to go together with.”
Lue stated this might be a really short-lived concept. It can all be primarily based on how Leonard feels transferring ahead.
“He hasn’t performed in 15-16 months,” Lue stated. “We will not count on him to be nice each night time. He has to know that as effectively. It may be a course of. There are going to be some instances the place he appears like Kawhi Leonard, there are going to be some instances the place he’s simply making an attempt to get a really feel and never enjoying effectively.
“He has to know that, as nice as he’s, that it isn’t going to only come in a single day. So we acquired to be affected person with him in that regard and he needs to be affected person with himself as effectively.”
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