Kawhi Leonard

Pacific Notes: Tucker, Clippers, Kuminga, Durant

October 24th, 2024 at 6:44pm CST by Tristan Tucker

Following reports earlier this month that P.J. Tucker would remain away from the team, the Clippers granted permission for Tucker’s agent Andre Buck to speak with other clubs in order to facilitate a trade, according to NBA insider Chris B. Haynes (Twitter link). The two sides will continue to work together to find a new home for Tucker as he remains away from the Clippers.

As we noted in early October, it may be difficult to find a trade that is palatable for all sides involved considering Tucker is due $11.54MM this season and played sparingly last season. Tucker was originally traded to the Clippers early last season as part of the deal that sent James Harden to Los Angeles. However, he was unhappy with his limited new role, spending some time away from the team last season and even publicly discussing his desire to be traded.

Tucker and his expiring contract could hold appeal for a team looking to shed long-term salary or a contending team looking for defensive depth. However, he may very well need to be bought out in order to switch teams, something he’s seemingly been unwilling to do to this point.

We have more from the Pacific Division:

A former Clippers strength and conditioning coach, Randy Shelton, is suing the team and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank for wrongful termination, among other things, according to NBA insider Chris B. Haynes (Twitter link). The staffer claims he was fired for complaining that Kawhi Leonard was being subject to unsafe and illegal treatments for his injuries over the years. The Clippers issued a statement refuting the claim. “Mr. Shelton’s claims were investigated and found to be without merit,” the statement reads (Twitter link via Haynes). “We honored Mr. Shelton’s employment contract and paid him in full. This lawsuit is a belated attempt to shake down the Clippers based on accusations that Mr. Shelton should know are false.” In a separate statement to Haynes, Shelton’s team responded. “We hope that our client’s lawsuit will serve as a wakeup call to the Clippers organization that their players are not just dollar values, but are humans requiring proper – and not hastened – health and recovery treatment for the careers and lives afterwards,” John David, one of Shelton’s representatives, said (Twitter link).
Shelton previously worked alongside Leonard at San Diego State and the Spurs, and he alleges that he was part of a multi-year effort to recruit the six-time All-Star to the Clippers that “leapt well beyond the bounds of the NBA constitution.” According to an ESPN story from Ramona Shelburne and Baxter Holmes, he is seeking “significant” but unspecified damages.
Because he didn’t agree to an extension before the regular season, Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga enters the final year of his contract with some variability in terms of what his next contract looks like, Anthony Slater of The Athletic writes. Kuminga recently addressed the lack of an extension: “I’m not really concerned about it. I’m just concerned about coming out here and performing every other day. I ain’t really thinking about that. The time came and nothing happened. So I’m not very concerned about it much anymore. I can just be me and not think about it. I’ve been through so much. A lot of people don’t know me, don’t know what I’ve been through. There’s not too many things that can break me.”
In an interview with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda, Suns star forward Kevin Durant said he doesn’t think about the hypothetical records he could have broken or added to if he hadn’t miss a season-and-a-half from 2019-21 due to an Achilles injury. “Nah, I never looked at it as, ‘Man, what if I had gotten this many points?’ It’s all part of the journey,” Durant said. “Getting hurt is a part of the journey. Getting hurt is a part of basketball. It’s something that I can [understand]. There’s some adversity that you need to go through in order for you to understand what this really means. I think those injuries were one of those things for me.“

Injury Notes: Kawhi, Vassell, Sharpe, Huerter, Grizzlies, Livers

October 23rd, 2024 at 3:51pm CST by Luke Adams

Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard won’t be making his season debut anytime soon, ESPN’s Shams Charania said during Wednesday’s episode of NBA Today (Twitter video link). According to Charania, Leonard’s absence will be measured in weeks rather than days.

“I’m told Kawhi Leonard will be missing weeks,” Charania said. “This is not an injury that’s going to be measured by a week (or) two weeks, potentially. Not days, obviously. This will be an extended period of time that the Clippers are starting this season without him.”

Leonard battled inflammation in his right knee at the end of the 2023/24 season that flared up again during the summer. While it’s obviously problematic that he’s not ready for the start of the season, Charania suggests there’s optimism that once the two-time Finals MVP gets back on the court, he won’t be in and out of the lineup.

“I’m told they feel they have a plan and a protocol in place that will allow him, when he is ready to return, to actually sustain his play on the court,” Charania said.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

Spurs guard Devin Vassell still hasn’t been cleared to take contact, but the team remains hopeful that he’ll be ready to return from foot surgery sometime in early November, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News. Vassell is scheduled to be reevaluated on Nov. 1.
Shaedon Sharpe is making good progress in his return from a labral tear in his left shoulder, according to Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link), who says the Trail Blazers guard has been cleared for non-contact basketball activities and is shooting and going through ball-handling drills in practice. A return in early- to mid-November return still seems realistic, Highkin adds.
Kings wing Kevin Huerter, who missed the preseason and hasn’t played since March 18 due to shoulder surgery, will be available to suit up on Thursday vs. Minnesota, tweets Sean Cunningham of FOX 40 Sacramento. Head coach Mike Brown previously told reporters that Huerter would “probably start” if he’s ready to go for Thursday’s regular season opener.
The NBA’s most injury-plagued team last season, the Grizzlies will open the 2024/25 campaign with five players sidelined. The team has officially confirmed (via Twitter) that GG Jackson II (foot), Jaren Jackson Jr. (hamstring), Luke Kennard (foot), Cam Spencer (ankle), and Vince Williams (leg) are all unavailable for Wednesday’s regular season opener in Utah.
Free agent forward Isaiah Livers announced on Instagram that he underwent a hip resurfacing surgical procedure last Friday after playing through a hip injury for the past two seasons (hat tip to Omari Sankofa II of The Detroit Free Press). It’s unclear how long the recovery process will take, but it seems safe to assume Livers won’t be an option for an NBA team until at least sometime in 2025.

L.A. Notes: Vanderbilt, Knecht, Kawhi, Powell, K. Jones

October 18th, 2024 at 8:49pm CST by Luke Adams

Lakers forward Jarred Vanderbilt will be sidelined to open the 2024/25 regular season as he continues to rehab from surgeries on both feet in May, head coach J.J. Redick said on Thursday evening (Twitter link via ESPN’s Dave McMenamin). According to Redick, Vanderbilt will be out at least two more weeks, which means he’ll miss a minimum of five regular season games.

A rangy, versatile defender, Vanderbilt was limited to just 29 games due to foot injuries. Redick said last week that the 25-year-old hasn’t experienced any setbacks in training camp, but he has yet to take part in practice, contact or otherwise.

Here’s more on the NBA’s two Los Angeles teams:

No. 17 overall pick Dalton Knecht showed on Thursday why the Lakers believe he’ll be viewed as a draft-night steal, according to Dan Woike of The Los Angeles Times. Knecht scored 35 points in 32 minutes off the bench, pouring in the Lakers’ last seven points of regulation and their first 13 of overtime. League executives say Knecht fell out of the lottery due to concerns about his age and defensive limitations, per Woike, but he appears poised to open his rookie season as a rotation player in Los Angeles.
Discussing the status of Kawhi Leonard‘s troublesome right knee, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue admitted the star forward experienced a setback at Team USA’s training camp, as Janis Carr of The Orange County Register relays. “The swelling was down, everything was going in the right direction,” Lue said. “He had worked hard to get to the that point and then once you start playing, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Clippers swingman Norman Powell spoke to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda.com about a wide variety of topics, including his first impressions of the team’s new arena, Leonard’s absence, and being challenged to step up on defense with Kawhi out. “Over the years, there’s been a focus on my scoring part,” Powell said. “But I’m tapping back into my defensive abilities and guarding as a two-way player. I love it. I know I can do it.”
After a strong camp and preseason, big man Kai Jones is set to open the season with the Clippers, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Since the team already has 15 players on guaranteed contracts, Jones will likely have his Exhibit 10 deal converted into a two-way contract prior to opening night, Murray adds.

Rory Maher contributed to this post.

Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard Out Indefinitely With Knee Issue

October 17th, 2024 at 2:07pm CST by Rory Maher

Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard is expected to be out indefinitely as he continues to rehab from right knee inflammation, league sources tell Shams Charania and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN.

At the team’s media day on September 30, Leonard expressed optimism about being ready for the regular season opener on October 23. Based on ESPN’s report, there’s essentially no chance of that happening.

Leonard, who dealt with inflammation in his right knee at the end of last season and underwent surgery during the offseason, has yet to take part in contact drills and is working on strengthening the knee. He was ruled out for the remainder of preseason earlier this week.

“He has not been a part of what we’ve been doing on a daily basis,” Clippers assistant coach Brian Shaw said after Wednesday’s practice. “I know the company line has been that we’re going to be patient with him, so he’s doing everything that he can to rehab it and strengthen that knee on his own with our medical staff. And we’re just dealing with the guys that we have [available].”

According to ESPN’s duo, the Clippers and Leonard are working together to find the best long-term solution to keep the two-time Finals MVP healthy. The team plans to be cautious with Leonard, who tore his right ACL in 2021, then his right meniscus in 2023. He missed the entire 2021/22 season while recovering from the ACL injury.

A two-time Defensive Player of the Year, the 33-year-old remains a two-way force when active. He appeared in 68 games last season (34.3 MPG), averaging 23.7 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 3.6 APG, 1.6 SPG and 0.9 BPG on .525/.417/.885 shooting. However, as previously mentioned, he was hampered by the knee inflammation to end ’23/24, including in L.A.’s first-round playoff loss to Dallas.

Leonard was originally on USA Basketball’s roster for the 2024 Olympics in Paris over the summer, but he was replaced with Derrick White before the event began. Team USA claimed the gold medal after edging past Serbia and France in the semifinal and final, respectively.

With Leonard sidelined to open the season and Paul George departing for Philadelphia in free agency, the Clippers will have a difficult task in replacing their production, particularly on offense. They’ll need multiple players to step up, with offseason additions Derrick Jones and Nicolas Batum among the candidates for more playing time.

Leonard is under contract through ’26/27 after signing a three-year, $152MM extension last season.

Clippers Notes: Leonard, Powell, Bamba, Van Gundy

October 16th, 2024 at 11:01pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Clippers‘ season opener is only a week away, and there’s very little clarity regarding Kawhi Leonard, writes Broderick Turner of The Los Angeles Times. Leonard is still dealing with the right knee inflammation that knocked him out of the team’s first-round playoff series last spring and prevented him from playing in the Olympics. Coach Tyronn Lue has already confirmed that Leonard won’t be used during the preseason, but his status is murky beyond that.

“Continue to keep rehabbing, keep getting better and keep checking the boxes,” Lue responded when asked how the team is handling Leonard.

Beyond the Clippers’ need to get off to a good start in what figures to be an intense Western Conference playoff race, Leonard’s ongoing knee ailments raise concern about his future. This is the first season of his three-year, $152MM contract extension, and the team will need him on the court as much as possible to remain competitive after losing Paul George in free agency.

There’s more from Los Angeles:

After playing primarily off the bench since he joined the Clippers, Norman Powell is hoping to earn a starting role this season, Turner adds in the same piece. Lue talked about what the veteran swingman needs to do to become a full-time starter. “Be able to score the basketball. When you don’t, just taking the defensive challenge every night,” Lue said. “So being able to guard his position, being able to match up with guys. We talked about two years ago, we saw in the playoffs in Phoenix, like, taking the challenge defensively. He’s gotten a lot better. So just being able to guard guys every night, being able to switch, sometimes guard point guards when we need him too. He’s been phenomenal so far in this training camp.”
The team continues to hope that backup center Mohamed Bamba will be able to recover from his knee soreness in time to play next week, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Bamba said the pain is a result of the wear and tear from his six NBA seasons, and he doesn’t have an official timetable to return.
Assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy, who joined the Clippers’ staff this summer, has raised the team’s level of aggression on defense, observes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. L.A. had 20 steals and forced 29 turnovers in Monday’s win over Dallas.“The defensive coordinator usually has to kind of be the guy that’s the (bad guy) because you got to be tough, and you got to hold everybody accountable,” fellow assistant Brian Shaw said. “So sometimes when he’s being that we have to be the good cops to balance out, but it’s been good.”

Pacific Notes: Kaminsky, Suns, Watson, Kawhi, Kings

October 15th, 2024 at 11:34am CST by Luke Adams

It’s unclear whether or not the Suns will carry a 15th man on their standard roster to start the season, since doing so will cost them exponentially more in tax penalties beyond the player’s minimum salary. If Phoenix does carry a full roster, big man Frank Kaminsky looks like the favorite to be that 15th man, notes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. The Suns waived two other camp invitees – Mamadi Diakite and Moses Wood – on Monday.

“He’s a veteran, smart, a lot of things we want to be about,” head coach Mike Budenholzer said of Kaminsky. “Having Frank in camp has been great and those will be the hard decisions with (Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein and general manager James Jones) and the front office. We’ve got to sit down and put everything together and make good, hard decisions.”

Kaminsky’s minimum-salary contract is non-guaranteed, so if the Suns do decide to hang onto him beyond the preseason, they’d essentially be paying him by the day. However, they’d also be increasing their projected tax bill each day he remains on the roster. That projected bill is already worth north of $185MM based on the team’s current financial commitments.

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Phoenix’s G League affiliate, the Valley Suns, completed a trade on Monday, acquiring Paul Watson‘s returning rights from the Austin Spurs in exchange for the rights to Lindell Wigginton and Matt Lewis (Twitter link). Wigginton and Lewis are both playing overseas this fall, so the deal appears mostly about funneling Watson to the Suns’ NBAGL roster.
Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard won’t play at all during the preseason, head coach Tyronn Lue confirmed on Monday, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Leonard, who dealt with inflammation in his right knee at the end of last season and during the offseason, has yet to take part in contact drills and is working on strengthening the knee. His status for the team’s regular season opener next Wednesday vs. Phoenix remains up in the air.
Breaking down the reported trade agreement that will send Jalen McDaniels to San Antonio, Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee wonders if the Kings might be setting up another deal by creating additional financial flexibility in their deal with the Spurs. The trade will move Sacramento about $5.8MM below the luxury tax line, with 13 players on standard contracts.

Clippers Notes: Lue, Harden, Leonard, Mann

October 8th, 2024 at 8:40pm CST by Dana Gauruder

There are six new players on the Clippers‘ roster and six players who are 25 or younger. Head coach Tyronn Lue finds himself doing more teaching in training camp and he doesn’t mind the change, he told Broderick Turner of the Los Angeles Times.

“I love it,” Lue said. “It gives me something to do. The young guys, just teaching. The new guys, teaching, understanding spacing, understanding how to execute offensively, what we’re looking for first, second, third option. So, it’s been good.”

Lue added that he doesn’t expect everyone to absorb the lessons immediately.

“I have patience,” Lue said. “You gotta have patience with a group. You can’t get frustrated, but the guys are picking stuff up very well. But I like to teach, make sure we’re in our right spots, let them understand why we’re doing certain things and why you got to set the screen here instead of there, why you gotta be here making the pass instead of there. So, it’s a lot of teaching, but it’s good.”

We have more on the Clippers:

With Paul George in Philadelphia, James Harden becomes the second option behind Kawhi Leonard. Leonard said the veteran guard shares the same mentality that he has. “The relationship has been great,” Leonard told The Athletic’s Law Murray. “He came in last year wanting to win and saying that he wanted to sacrifice and do the things we needed to do to win games. So going into this year, he has the same mindset. You just want another guy on your team that is like-minded and is just willing to do anything that it takes for us to win. I think it’s a good relationship so far. We can be transparent to each other about how we’re playing, good or bad. So I think it will be good moving forward.”
The breakdown on Terance Mann‘s extension looks like this — he’ll make $15.5MM in 2025/26; $15.5MM in 2026/27; and $16MM in 2027/28, Spotrac contributor Keith Smith tweets. It’s a fully guaranteed deal with no options, Smith adds. Mann signed the extension on Oct. 2.
In case you missed it, P.J. Tucker is on indefinite leave from the team. Get the details here.

Pacific Notes: Leonard, Clippers, Waters, Vincent

October 6th, 2024 at 10:01am CST by Arthur Hill

Kawhi Leonard sat out the Clippers‘ preseason opener Saturday night, but he expressed confidence that his surgically repaired right knee will be less of a problem this season, according to Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN. Leonard was limited to two games in last year’s playoffs due to inflammation in the knee, then he was replaced on the U.S. Olympic team because of concerns that the knee wouldn’t permit him to play.

Leonard told Youngmisuk that the focus in training camp has been on strengthening his knee and preparing him for the long season ahead. However, no determination has been made on whether he’ll be used in back-to-back games.

“I feel good,” Leonard said. “Just been taking my time, getting stronger and getting ready. … We’re just taking it slow, day by day and just trying to get me back on the floor. Once those conversations come, we’ll see what they’re talking about [on the best approach for back-to-backs].”

Leonard appeared in 68 games last season, his highest total in seven years, and the Clippers will need him in the lineup as much as possible to remain competitive after losing Paul George in free agency. Leonard is hoping for a similar workload this season, but that’s not his primary concern.

“I strive to get a championship and I’m not out there to try to [solely] play 82 games,” he added. “I’m trying to win, even though [playing as much as I can] that’s obligated for me. I try to. But it hasn’t worked out [the last two postseasons] so we’ll see.”

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

James Harden, Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac looked ready for the regular season on Saturday, but it may take time for coach Tyronn Lue to work out the rest of the Clippers‘ rotation, writes Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Newcomers Kris Dunn and Derrick Jones were in the starting lineup, but they both went scoreless. More impressive were Kevin Porter Jr., who scored seven points, and Kai Jones, who contributed four points, six rebounds and three assists.
Lindy Waters, who’s in camp on a non-guaranteed contract, won the game for the Warriors with a buzzer-beating three-pointer, per Sam Gordon of The San Francisco Chronicle. Waters described the moment as the “cherry on top” after a long week of training camp. “I had already hit a couple of them, so that rim gets bigger and bigger,” he said. “So I just let it fly, and I knew it was good as soon as it left my hand.”
One positive for the Lakers in Friday’s preseason opener was backup guard Gabe Vincent, who scored 11 points in 15 minutes. Vincent missed 71 games last year with a knee injury, and he told Lakers Nation this week that he didn’t feel 100% until about a month after the season ended. “Obviously I was healthy enough to come back and compete, but I think it was clear to everybody that I wasn’t really myself even though I was able to impact in certain ways,” Vincent said. “It just wasn’t really what I was proud of producing and I don’t think it’s what this ballclub needed me to produce at the time. So definitely happy to be healthy coming into this season.”

Los Angeles Notes: Leonard, Harden, Lakers Rotation, Redick

October 1st, 2024 at 6:54pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard anticipates he’ll be on the court for the team’s regular season opener, ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk writes. Leonard has been dealing with inflammation in his right knee during the offseason. However, Leonard acknowledges knee issues will remain an ongoing concern.

“Everything has been going great for the past month, but being very cautious for reasons in the past we haven’t been able to finish some playoff runs, so making sure we’re staying healthy for those important moments,” he said. “Trying to maintain it and figure it out. We’ll be in here for a long time if I started describing stuff [about the injury and treatment] … but just learning on how it came and how to keep it down and make sure that we don’t fall in that timeframe of [missing time in] those important [late-season] moments and just making sure I’m healthy. There’s certain stuff that we could do or try to do to make me last.”

Leonard, who signed a three-year max extension in January, is encouraged by the fact he played more often last season.

“I played my most games I’ve played in a long time last year,” Leonard said. “Last two years I came back from ACL and been injured and it’s a progression for me. It was successful for us last year. Obviously from a fan base [perspective] or just from my own competitive nature, we didn’t reach a goal [of winning a title]. But in the grand scheme of things and how my body’s been doing it, it was a good year. I went from zero games to 52 to 68. So let’s see if I could keep it going from there.”

We have more on the Los Angeles teams:

With Paul George signing with the Sixers and Russell Westbrook also out of the picture, the Clippers will lean heavily on 35-year-old James Harden this season. Harden says he’s up to the challenge, Ben Golliver of the Washington Post tweets. “It’s definitely going to involve a lot of me,” Harden said. “There was talk when I was in Houston… ‘You can’t win like that.’ You just saw a guy [Luka Doncic] last season make the Finals playing the same exact way I played.”
Lakers first-year coach J.J. Redick envisions a nine-man rotation, Jovan Buha of The Athletic tweets. Redick mentioned Gabe Vincent, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jaxson Hayes, Max Christie, Cam Reddish and Jalen Hood-Schifino as some of the candidates for bench rotation spots.
Redick and his staff are already receiving compliments from the players, according to Buha. “I just think the whole structure and foundation these coaches have brought in for us is a great start,” Austin Reaves said. “Because I feel like a lot of times last year we won games off talent. And when you have talent around structure, then you have the opportunity to do something really special.” Christie said Redick has gone to great lengths to explain his philosophy: “J.J. has done a really good job, I think, to start. Definitely imposing himself as a coach. … I think he’s done a really good job kind of explaining what our offensive identity, defensive identity and so on is going to be.”

Pacific Notes: Jones, Suns, Kaminsky, Kawhi, Porter, Lakers

September 27th, 2024 at 2:03pm CST by Luke Adams

Although he had made 94 starts across eight NBA seasons prior to 2023/24, last season was Tyus Jones‘ first as a full-timer in that role — he started all 66 games he played for the Wizards. That sample size is good enough for new Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer, who tells Steve Aschburner of NBA.com that Jones has “established himself as a great starting point guard in our league” and that the plan is for the veteran to be in Phoenix’s starting five to open the 2024/25 season.

“When you put him out there with Kevin (Durant), Brad (Beal), Book (Devin Booker) and Nurk (Jusuf Nurkic), we feel like we’ve got a strong starting five,” Budenholzer said, confirming what he expects his initial starting group to look like. “And a really strong bench behind them.

“Tyus can help us play faster. He’s great with the kick-aheads, he’s great with getting teammates involved in transition. But then also in the half-court. He’s a guy who has always been a high assists guy, low turnovers. He can get us organized. Everyone talks about how much talent we have. Hopefully he can put them in positions to be their best.”

Here’s more from around the Pacific:

Frank Kaminsky‘s new non-guaranteed deal with the Suns offers him no assurances for the regular season, but he’s still excited to be back with the organization after having worked out at the team’s practice facility in recent weeks, he tells Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. “I love it here,” the veteran big man said. “There’s no other way I can describe it. There’s just such a level of love and comfort that I have living here, being here. I’ve built a nice community here, have great friends — everything here is set up well for me. And that’s why when the camp deal started getting talked about, it’s the one I wanted, just because I love being here.”
This week’s revelation that Kawhi Leonard underwent another knee procedure in the offseason and will be limited in training camp is an ominous one for the Clippers, but president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank attempted to downplay concerns about the star forward’s status, writes Anthony De Leon of The Los Angeles Times. “It’s almost gone,” Frank said of the swelling in Leonard’s knee. “He wants to participate in everything during training camp, but we’re going to hold him back from drill work and really focus on strengthening.” The goal, Frank added, is “to get him to 100% so he can have a great season, not just this year, but for many years.”
New Clippers guard Kevin Porter Jr. will be allowed to take part in team activities during training camp while the NBA continues to investigate the domestic incident that occurred last September, tweets Law Murray of The Athletic. Porter reached a plea agreement of a third-degree reckless assault misdemeanor in January, but wasn’t in the NBA at that time and may still face a suspension from the league.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report reads between the lines of Rob Pelinka‘s and JJ Redick‘s comments to reporters at the Lakers‘ pre-camp press conference on Wednesday, sharing 10 observations about what the team’s head of basketball operations and new head coach had to say.

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