Kawhi Leonard had a ‘clean up’ surgery on his right knee and reports say he’ll be ready for the start of training camp

Earlier this month, all-star SF Kawhi Leonard had a “clean-up” procedure done on his right knee. Leonard was limited to just 52 games during the regular season and injured his knee during the postseason. Reports say the two-time Finals MVP “feels great” and is expected to be ready for the start of training camp. He’ll have an eight-week recovery timetable from his procedure that was done on June 6. 

President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said Leonard is expected to be “100 %” for training camp in October. Sadly, injuries have been a recurring theme in Leonards’s time with the Clippers. This was his fourth season with the team and his availability hasn’t been up to standard.

When healthy, Kawhi Leaord is a Top 20 player in the NBA. Staying healthy and being available has been the biggest challenge he’s faced with LA. The duo of Paul George and himself has been extremely underwhelming for the Clippers.

Here’s Lawrence Frank discussing Kawhi Leonard’s knee procedure.

By this timeline, Leonard should be cleared in early August. Camp will begin in late September.

Kawhi has said that he does not play full court 5s in offseason anyway, so it’ll be conditioning and skill work. pic.twitter.com/8luPPEMAMa

— Law Murray 🥷🏾 (@LawMurrayTheNU) June 23, 2023

Kawhi Leonard is expected to be “100 %” for the start of training camp in October

In his time with the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard’s availability has been at the forefront of conversations. He’s been with the team for four seasons now. Leonard has yet to play more than 57 games during the regular season. On top of that, he missed the entire 2021-22 season due to an ACL injury.

Heading into last season, the Clippers had a lot of expectations as a team. They had one of the deeper rosters in the NBA in terms of depth. Injuries at the end of the season hurt their chances of making a deep postseason run. Paul George missed the final 14 games of the regular season and all of the postseason.

In two of their last three playoff runs, injuries have halted their chance of coming for a title.  After the draft last night, the Clippers said the plan is to still build around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. This week the Clippers were involved in a three-team trade for Malcolm Brogdon. However, they became skeptical about his health and the trade fell through on their end.