The Athletic: Kawhi Leonard expected to play in the season opener.

[binjumper]

If he stays healthy, I think the Clippers are going to win it all. That roster is completely stacked. Probably one of the best rosters of all time in terms of pure talent.

hmmm there are some good teams out there right now.

Warriors
Philly
Miami
Bucks

[Wall_To_Clips]

If he stays healthy, I think the Clippers are going to win it all. That roster is completely stacked. Probably one of the best rosters of all time in terms of pure talent.

In terms of pure depth of rotation worthy players, I can’t think of a similar roster historically. To give an idea, legit contributors like Kennard, Mann, Boston, Coffey won’t see much time at all until injuries start coming.

Zubac/Batum
Covington/Morris
Kawhi/Mann/Coffey/Boston Jr
PG/Powell/Kennard
John Wall/Reggie Jackson

That’s 13 players that started games last season (Wall last time he wasn’t benched for tanking, Kawhi who missed the season).

[Reeko]

If he stays healthy, I think the Clippers are going to win it all. That roster is completely stacked. Probably one of the best rosters of all time in terms of pure talent.

I doubt it. They're seriously lacking in leadership.

[R-DAWG]

Did they specify which season?

[Bologna Smasher]

If he stays healthy, I think the Clippers are going to win it all. That roster is completely stacked. Probably one of the best rosters of all time in terms of pure talent.

hmmm there are some good teams out there right now.

Warriors
Philly
Miami
Bucks

It can honestly be any of them, but based on the current landscape, I still take a healthy Clippers roster next season.

Warriors are eventually going to start falling off a bit unless one of their younger players seriously step up.

The Heat don't really worry me too much. Their current roster is good for the regular season, but they can get easily outmatched in the playoffs.

Bucks will always be a threat as long as they have competent players around Giannis, but their key pieces outside Giannis are starting to hit the stage where they begin to fall off a bit.

76ers have the talent, but it's still up in the air whether or not they can mesh to become a legit contender. If the real James Harden returns, then they'd be my favorites in the east. Think they have the roster makeup to contend with the Clippers pretty well.

I'm also expecting the Lakers to return to form this season if they stay healthy. So that's another one.

[RoyceDa59]

If healthy Clips going all the way.

[Reeko]

What? He’s played barely any back to backs in a Clippers uniform.

In the '20-'21 season he played in 6 back to back games, so about half of them.

He’s also been attacked mercilessly still for “load managing” all 3 years. He’s not carried the weight of a full time player at all.

Games
60 in 2019 with Toronto
57 in 2020 with LA
52 in 2021 with LA

I’m sure he played some B2B in LA due to missing more time to begin with. I vaguely remember him being out a while straight, so they decided to play him a few B2B. None of which contributes to Ingles taking out his ACL in an awkward knee to knee collision on a drive.

Lol, that's a bit hyperbolic, no? He's been criticized for sure, but definitely wouldn't say that he's been "mercilessly attacked".

As for this "knee to knee collision" you speak of, it didn't happen. Ingles bumped him but there was no knee to knee collision. More and more the science is pointing to ACL tears being due to accumulated damage.

Is it a guarantee that he doesn't tear his ACL with the Raptors? Of course not. But I like his chances of avoiding that injury much more under the watchful eye of Alex McKechnie who is the best in the business.

Plus there's rumors that Kawhi hasn't been very happy with the Clippers medical staff, something that was never a problem when he was with the Raptors. https://nba.nbcsports.com/2021/06/27/rumor-kawhi-leonard-unhappy-with-clippers-medical-staff/

[PeteyPablo]

If he stays healthy, I think the Clippers are going to win it all. That roster is completely stacked. Probably one of the best rosters of all time in terms of pure talent.

hmmm there are some good teams out there right now.

Warriors
Philly
Miami
Bucks

It can honestly be any of them, but based on the current landscape, I still take a healthy Clippers roster next season.

Warriors are eventually going to start falling off a bit unless one of their younger players seriously step up.

The Heat don't really worry me too much. Their current roster is good for the regular season, but they can get easily outmatched in the playoffs.

Bucks will always be a threat as long as they have competent players around Giannis, but their key pieces outside Giannis are starting to hit the stage where they begin to fall off a bit.

76ers have the talent, but it's still up in the air whether or not they can mesh to become a legit contender. If the real James Harden returns, then they'd be my favorites in the east. Think they have the roster makeup to contend with the Clippers pretty well.

I'm also expecting the Lakers to return to form this season if they stay healthy. So that's another one.

Warriors - They are dangerous due to having a top defense and capable of going on scoring spurts which is usually when they separate themselves from opponents. I think this will a key match up all year for the Clippers so they can send a message and gauge their potential WCF opponent.

Philly - Embiid will give Clippers issues because Zubac will struggle a bit , they may put Batum on him for stretches. Batum shut down KAT in the Playin game. Harden will either be great or be average , we will see. I think LA can eek out the win in that series.
4-3 in series. Kawhi and PG13 will score if not doubled. And if you double them then you are leaving shooters open all around. But Doc Rivers might strike again so it could go to Clippers 4-2 instead.

Bucks - Kawhi might have some mind control / influence on Giannis from the 2019 Playoffs. Of course Giannis has improved and matured over the last three years but it may always be in the back of his mind. This could be a toss up. Clippers will have to bring their A game defensively. Might come down to Bucks bench vs Clippers bench.

Heat - I think Clippers have enough scoring , defense , size/ length and motivation to defeat the Heat in a series. 4-2

[Johnny Firpo]

Will probably play 40 games and miss the playoffs again

Clippers do not need Kawhi to make playoffs, just Paul George for about 50-60 games.

In this west? Yeah, I highly doubt that. They are a play-in team by default because the Rockets, Spurs, OKC, Jazz are all taking, and then you only have to get a better record than any of the Blazers, Kings or Lakers, which they'll probably do even without Kawhi playing a whole lot of games. But I don't see how they would be 1-6th without him. That's going to be extremely difficult.

[PeteyPablo]

Will probably play 40 games and miss the playoffs again

Clippers do not need Kawhi to make playoffs, just Paul George for about 50-60 games.

In this west? Yeah, I highly doubt that. They are a play-in team by default because the Rockets, Spurs, OKC, Jazz are all taking, and then you only have to get a better record than any of the Blazers, Kings or Lakers, which they'll probably do even without Kawhi playing a whole lot of games. But I don't see how they would be 1-6th without him. That's going to be extremely difficult.

I agree that the West is tough. Last year Clippers finished 42-40 , 8th seed with only 31 games from Paul George. There were many games that were within 5 points in the last minutes of the 4th qtr and LA could not get the buckets to win the game.

Either Reggie Jackson had to play hero ball and take crazy deep threes or lose the ball / turnover or Marcus Morris had to try and create . Both those guys came in clutch through out the year but you needed a player like Paul George to really create and at least get to the free throw line.

So with 50-60 games from Paul George , they could win a hand full more games and be in that 6th seed. This year they also have Norman Powell, Robert Covington and Paul Wall to start the season and they all will contribute. Kawhi can just sit on the bench and let the terminator sleep until the playoffs.

Most likely , though , Kawhi will play at least 40 games during the regular season.


2022 West Standings

1. Suns 64-18
2. Grizz 56-26
3. Warriors 53-29
4. Mavericks 52-30
5. Jazz 49-33
6. Nuggets 48-34
7. Wolves 46-36
8. Pelicans 36-46
9. Clippers 42-40

[Dubnation]

I'm ready to hear his heartwarming laugh again

Watch on YouTube

[Ballerhogger]

Feels like been 2 years lol

[Dubnation]

Feels like been 2 years lol

Almost as long as Klay was.. lol

[GunnerWRX]

A superstar playing in Game 1 of the season being news, just shows how fragile he has been.

[og15]

Will probably play 40 games and miss the playoffs again

Take that back!!!

Seriously though, let's hope not.

[Pablo Escobar]

Walls court vision is going to help this team a ton.

[JordansBulls]

Best player on planet before pandemic. Best player after pandemic

[Mister Ze]

A healthy Kawhi is easily a top 5 talent

[LakersLegacy]

Kawhi plays less than Anthony Davis