Law Murray of The Athletic explores some offseason questions related to the Clippers, starting with the health of Kawhi Leonard.
The six-time All-Star and two-time Finals MVP was removed from Team USA ahead of the Paris Olympics, leading to speculation about the status of his right knee, which has caused him issues over the years, including battling inflammation in the playoffs. According to Murray, both Leonard and the Clips seem confident in the 33-year-old’s health, even if some reports suggested otherwise.
President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said he and the Clippers were “very disappointed” in USA Basketball’s decision to replace Leonard.
“He wouldn’t be out there and we wouldn’t put him out there if we weren’t confident that he’d be able to go through the entire Olympic experience,” Frank said. “I get it from USAB’s perspective; no one has a crystal ball. … Ultimately, they decided after the third practice that they didn’t feel as confident as we felt. That’s their right. It’s their team.”
Here’s more from the Pacific:
- The Clippers are now 4-0 at the Las Vegas Summer League after dispatching the Jazz on Thursday, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Second-year players Kobe Brown (20 points, three rebounds, six assists) and Jordan Miller (19 points, five rebounds, four assists) were the top individual performers for the Clips, who have to wait until Friday’s games conclude to determine whether or not they’ll advance to the semifinals, Carr notes.
- DeMar DeRozan has been a veteran leader for the Bulls the past three seasons and he plans to continue that with the Kings, he told Hunter Patterson of The Athletic. “I take pride in that,” DeRozan said. “Just giving whatever experience in life that I’ve been through, sharing that and giving any type of gems that I can give to help avoid any type of pitfall that someone else could go through if they haven’t been through something. I’ve been through a lot on and off the court that I feel like I can share. Any experience that I can give, I’ll try to give it all because I want the best for anybody I work with or play with and I want them to thrive the best way they can.”
- Suns forward David Roddy has been hoisting up three-pointers during Summer League action, and he’ll likely need to show he can convert them at a high level if he wants to earn minutes under new head coach Mike Budenholzer, per Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. As Rankin notes, Budenholzer’s teams ranked between second and eighth in the NBA in three-point attempts from 2018-23, while former first-rounder Roddy has converted just 30.1% of his outside looks over his first two NBA seasons.
Jeez, Wouldn’t we all love somebody as loyal(to us) as the clippers are with kawhi.
Agreed I’m tempted to suggest we just stop talking about Kawhi. He is approaching being irrelevant.
He was just an all nba player, how is he approaching being irrelevant lol
Who selects the players for NBA?
Who selects players for all nba?
Who cares. That’s politics. There are 30 players better than him right now. But you’re right Clips have won what – 2 or 3 championships since he’s been there?
Yeah that comment from Frank is either a complete lie or utter delusion
DeM was a great pickup. He definitely will bring stability and leadership. Kings need a big to help Sabonis. Better pay attention to them. They are going to be good and getting better. A vet like DeM is exactly what they needed.
DDR is a team leader and the Bulls give all the money to a putz who can’t even get along with the Head Coach. Donovan isn’t any prize either but to be an idiot in front of everybody can’t be tolerated or much less be given a Max deal. Awesome move.