The NBA playoffs are approaching and the Los Angeles Clippers are not quite going full throttle with superstar Kawhi Leonard on the floor.
When speaking to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk, Clippers head coach Tyronne Lue mentioned how Leonard is unable to play a full quarter stint. That limitation keeps his load of playing time lower than what it would be in a traditional situation.
“Right now, Kawhi just can’t play a full quarter, so he can’t play the whole 12-minute stint,” Lue said following the Clippers’ win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday.
The Clippers have kept Leonard under a minutes restriction since he’s made his return to the lineup from a foot injury. He logged 30 minutes in his most recent outing and it occurred against the Lakers. He racked up 15 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists in 30 minutes.
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Leonard made it clear that he is ‘ready to go’ and is happy that he no longer has to watch the action from the sidelined being unable to help this Clippers team.
“I feel good,” Leonard said. “I’m ready to go. You know I’m just happy to be on the floor and not sitting on the sidelines, be able to play the game I love.”
The options that Lue faces when it comes to distributing minutes to his two superstars, Leonard and Paul George, are more limited than usual. Lue has turned to giving more minutes to Terrance Mann and Luke Kennard as a result, which will change once Kawhi Leonard is able to play a regular load.
“Without having him, it kind of messes up our rotations a little bit,” Lue said. “So that is where we insert Terrance Mann or Luke Kennard in that position and just kind of go from there.
“But once (Leonard) is cleared to be able to play the whole quarter, we will go back to him finishing the first and third and letting PG play with the second unit to start the quarter.”
The Los Angeles Clippers currently sit behind just the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference standings. Only the Denver Nuggets are in range of surpassing them for the third spot. As long as Paul George and Kawhi Leonard can stay healthy, they appear set to be a legitimate threat to pull off an NBA Finals run.
