Kawhi injury - diagnosed with torn meniscus

[PeteyPablo]

Kawhi Leonard has been diagnosed with a torn meniscus in his right knee.

Leonard played in the first two games of the Los Angeles Clippers' first round series against the Phoenix Suns where he averaged 35 points per game. Leonard missed Games 3, 4 and 5 with the injury in which he was listed as day-to-day.

Leonard is signed with the Clippers through the 24-25 season and he can become a free agent in 2024 if he declines his player option.

Leonard suffered a partially torn ACL during the 2021 playoffs, which led him to miss the entire 21-22 season.

[jengmann3]

Maybe it's cuz im a fan of the dude but injuries suck. I'm not sure the criticism is warranted though I get the frustration.

[MartinToVaught]

What I want to know is why this team's allowed to just lie to its own fanbase about injuries. They did this two years ago with the ACL. They just did it again by pretending this meniscus tear was a "day to day" knee sprain that Kawhi could potentially come back from. Aren't teams supposed to be transparent about this stuff?

[Clemenza]

Well now the team is forced to make some serious decisions. Kawhi is unmovable now. Just sit him, cut off his his team influence, and stop building the team & game plan around him and his availability. Might have to move PG now and get some picks. Move on from Morris, Batum, Gordon, and RoCo since Lue will never play him. Resign Russ, go after Naz Reid, play the youth, and make a run at Jaylen Brown after the 2023 season. It's fixable

[Clemenza]

What I want to know is why this team's allowed to just lie to its own fanbase about injuries. They did this two years ago with the ACL. They just did it again by pretending this meniscus tear was a "day to day" injury that Kawhi could potentially come back from. Aren't teams supposed to be transparent about this stuff?

I believe one of Kawhi's demands before signing with us, along with the team having to add another star player and numerous other things, was that the team couldn't report his injury status to the media and public until he and his camp gave the ok to do so. This has to be the case because we get injury reports of every other team member like PG with no problems whatsoever but with Kawhi that wasn't going to happen. The team, coaches, etc. knew he was done for the year but evidently they couldn't say anything until after we were eliminated from the playoffs.

He's got to much power that needs to be stripped or subdued so that the team can move forward. Can't trade him now after this latest injury. Time to just sit him, pivot away from him and his camp, and plan for the future. If he ever plays again he'll just have to fit into whatever were doing and trying to accomplish instead of the other way around.

[clipperlover]

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[wco81]

Well now the team is forced to make some serious decisions. Kawhi is unmovable now. Just sit him, cut off his his team influence, and stop building the team & game plan around him and his availability. Might have to move PG now and get some picks. Move on from Morris, Batum, Gordon, and RoCo since Lue will never play him. Resign Russ, go after Naz Reid, play the youth, and make a run at Jaylen Brown after the 2023 season. It's fixable

Hmm, I wonder how many Clippers fans are for a rebuild now.

With both Kawhi and PG13 having player options after next season, it's not clear how many picks either would fetch.

Plus they're both from LA and presumably would not be inclined to leave.

If Ballmer gave them the most money that the team could offer them, probably at least $200 million each for 4 years, you wouldn't think both of them would sign?

Kawhi looked so good, through at least game 1 of the Phoenix series and going back probably a month or two before then. Shooting at a higher level than he ever has, something like 46% from 3?

You just hope he can recover from this latest injury because that's the surest and quickest way to contention.

OTOH, meniscus tears can be tricky. Some players are out more than a year and some like Robert Williams is not quite the same now as pre-injury.

[PeteyPablo]

I am not even deflated, defeated or sad. Seems like I and we ,have all grown accustomed to this bs.
It is time for the Clippers ownership to pivot from this duo and make changes. Clippers max players will not be available for majority of games , especially playoffs.

We now have enough sample size for this type of assessment. If the reports are true about the major rift between Ty Lue and team - we need to start there. Then address the players. Paul George is a 2nd or 3rd best player for a contender. If Clippers can get a decent return for him , take it.

Kawhi may still get a return even with this injury. I hope Clippers explore trades this off season. This era is broken. Not to be an ungrateful fan - there were winning seasons and a WCF but it has become clear the max players are not durable for playoff success.

[MartinToVaught]

What I want to know is why this team's allowed to just lie to its own fanbase about injuries. They did this two years ago with the ACL. They just did it again by pretending this meniscus tear was a "day to day" injury that Kawhi could potentially come back from. Aren't teams supposed to be transparent about this stuff?

I believe one of Kawhi's demands before signing with us, along with the team having to add another star player and numerous other things, was that the team couldn't report his injury status to the media and public until he and his camp gave the ok to do so. This has to be the case because we get injury reports of every other team member like PG with no problems whatsoever but with Kawhi that wasn't going to happen. The team, coaches, etc. knew he was done for the year but evidently they couldn't say anything until after we were eliminated from the playoffs.

This is one thing I don't actually blame Kawhi for since our medical/training staff has been mishandling injuries the same way since the Sterling era. There's not much of a difference between how they've dealt with Kawhi's injuries and, for example, Luc Mbah a Moute's knee injury years ago. They misdiagnosed Blake's torn quad and plantar plate injuries in consecutive years. They definitely haven't been transparent with PG's injuries either. We just found out yesterday that it was "always a six-week recovery process" after PG and the team went out of their way to tease the fans with false hope of a return.

As far as the players themselves are concerned, I am way more frustrated at PG for his performative podcasts and Instagram videos, "what I won't do is quit," etc. only to sit out an elimination game because he's sore. The tonedeaf comments he made praising his "GM skills" and thanking the rest of the team for "putting their bodies on the line" while he refuses to do the same didn't sit right with me either. At least Kawhi refrains from this kind of nonsense.

[ejftw]

Just lovely how it happens during a year where OKC out right owns our pick instead of a year with a swap.

[playaloc916]

I'm guessing it must have happened when Ayton bumped him in a similar way that Ingles bumped him? It's unfortunate, but also crazy how people get bumped while driving all the time and we don't see these injuries more often. I would think a tanky Kawhi would be more resistant to getting bumped. I still remember during that Raptors championship, Kawhi drove into Looney and Looney literally flew, and even ended up with some rib fractures I think.

[ejftw]

Wondering if the FO decides to fight through and not duck the tax, if they would apply for a DPE this year

[clipperlover]

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Watch through J.J.'s comments

[KL2]

Injuries suck. Won’t even guess about his rehab process or level of tear. We’ll either see him in training camp or not.

At least this puts to rest that he quit on the team because he was sore or load management.

[MartinToVaught]

Speaking of load management, that needs to be a thing of the past now. It's done nothing at all to keep Kawhi healthy and playing when it matters.

[og15]

I'm guessing it must have happened when Ayton bumped him in a similar way that Ingles bumped him? It's unfortunate, but also crazy how people get bumped while driving all the time and we don't see these injuries more often. I would think a tanky Kawhi would be more resistant to getting bumped. I still remember during that Raptors championship, Kawhi drove into Looney and Looney literally flew, and even ended up with some rib fractures I think.

We have to not be in denial about Kawhi's body. He is not the average player when it comes to these things. His degenerative issue is not made up, it's reality, and therefore Kawhi will suffer knee related issues much more easily than another player would in the same situation.

For example, if Dort had landed on Kawhi's leg like he did on PG, he would probably have some year long injury, and I'm not saying that as an insult to him, just acknowledging the reality of his body.

So yeah this isn't a slight on him as a human, it's just a reality of the situation that we need to stop acting like it isn't there. His injury proneness when it ones to his lower body and specifically right leg is at the poor end of the spectrum.

There's simply no way to rely on him maintaining health, there's no plan that can get him there, it's really just luck at best and hoping.

[og15]

Speaking of load management, that needs to be a thing of the past now. It's done nothing at all to keep Kawhi healthy and playing when it matters.

Well, we don't know, with Kawhi being so injury prone, we have no clue what the maximum games he can even survive is. We have no clue if playing back to backs would just get him injured sooner. We do know the data that injuries are increased in back to backs, so of course a fragile player is probably not the one to play those.

We do know that minor or moderate injuries can be aggravated and cause worse injuries of you don't first recover to a solid level, so again, that's going to be exacerbated with an injury prone player with a broken down body.

There's no "good solution" to the Kawhi situation, it's not the "fault" of this or that, it's just what the Clippers signed up for when the team brought on a player who was damaged goods essentially and were hoping he could survive.

I guess you could find some limited minutes type solution, but of course when you're paying a guy max money, that isn't really an overly happy solution.

[clipperlover]

How the hell could Embiid sprain his knee? What was Giannis thinking falling on his back in Game 1? How the hell could Ja hurt his wrist like this? What was Fox thinking breaking his finger? Why didn't Paul George anticipate that Dort was going to blast his knee on a common rebound? Why did Powell allow his shoulder to get dislocated? What was Plumlee thinking getting his pinky dislocated?

Injuries happen and they suck. They suck worse when they happen to a player that takes up a large portion of the salary cap, but that happens. It isn't like we gave Kawhi a huge contract while he was starting recovery from an Achilles tear and paid him knowing he had to sit out a year (re: Nets and Durant). We signed Kawhi coming off a championship and he took less money than full max.

I think people forget how big, strong and fast these players are at the professional level. They explode off the court and then come crashing down onto a strong surface with no give. The knees take a beating. I have wondered why teams aren't doing some preventative MRI's to get a look at players ligaments. Maybe they spot a weakening ligament before a tear happens.

A few things that I would like to know regarding Kawhi:
1. What play did he get hurt on? I seem to remember a play in either Game 1 or Game 2 that just didn't look right to me. I was happy that he was running down court, but it looked bad.

2. Did he tell the medical staff after game 1 that he had soreness and discomfort?

3. Who made the call to let him play in Game 2? Did that call put him in a position that he worsened the situation and created the tear?

4. What is Kawhi's flexibility routine? I remember that Blake and Kevin Love integrated a lot of yoga into their off-season regimen one year.

5. Has anyone ever evaluated Kawhi's New Balance shoes to ensure they aren't creating issues? For example, do they provide adequate impact resistance when he comes crashing down to the floor?

6. Does Kawhi have one of those conditions where he has a very high pain tolerance, so doesn't recognize early warning signs? I still remember his ACL tear vs Utah. He didn't leave the game right away:

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Did staying in that game become the difference between some minor tearing and a rupture?

[wco81]

The other thing is with PG13's injury, maybe Kawhi's usage was high the last month.

That's assuming he was injured while possessing the ball, not off ball at the time.

[esqtvd]

Not a big deal.


Meniscus Repair Surgery

Code: Select all

Come back to athletic activity   if:
If your motion and strength are recovered.
There is no swelling or pain in your knee.
3-6 months