The goal, Kawhi Leonard said Monday at the Clippers ’ media day at Intuit Dome, is to play in the team’s regular-season opener against the Phoenix Suns on Oct. 23 in Inglewood. Leonard continues to deal with inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee, leading some uncertainty about when he’ll be healthy enough to play, especially after reports of him having procedures on the knee over the summer.
The Clippers plan is to limit Leonard’s activity in training camp, which starts Tuesday in Hawaii. Leonard was asked if he planned on starting for the Clippers on opening night. “Yeah, I mean, that’s the plan,” he said.
“I never plan to miss games, but it just about my body. I’m a human being and we’re playing basketball, so it all depends on what we want and what we figure out and how my body is feeling. But right now I think it is a positive thing to think that I will play.
But we take it day by day.” Leonard, 35, missed the final eight regular-season games last season and played in just two games of the first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks because of the knee condition. He was sent home from USA basketball practice because of the knee issue.
And Leonard, who played in 68 games last season, is still having knee problems. With the start of his three-year, $152.4-million contract kicking in this season, Leonard was asked if he’ll have to deal with a knee situation the rest of his career.
“Yeah, I mean, it can get that way,” he sa.