{"id":103356,"date":"2022-10-21T03:11:07","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T03:11:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kawhi-leonard-off-bench-for-la-clippers-opener-vs-lakers\/"},"modified":"2022-10-21T03:11:07","modified_gmt":"2022-10-21T03:11:07","slug":"kawhi-leonard-off-bench-for-la-clippers-opener-vs-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kawhi-leonard-off-bench-for-la-clippers-opener-vs-lakers\/","title":{"rendered":"Kawhi Leonard off bench for LA Clippers’ opener vs. Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard’s return started with him coming off the bench for the LA Clippers in their opener Thursday night against the host Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n

Clippers coach Ty Lue said the decision to bring Leonard off the bench while on a minutes restriction was a collaborative decision between the star and the team’s medical staff — one that was primarily based on how Leonard is feeling.<\/p>\n

Lue also said the decision was about how the Clippers want to spread out Leonard’s limited minutes to start the season.<\/p>\n

“Just want to have him for the end of the game, if we need him,” Lue said before the contest. “Just for him, he wanted to do whatever is best for the team. And I just thought whatever is best for him, whatever makes him feel better. Being out for 15 months, what was the best thing for him as far as healthwise and how he would feel.”<\/p>\n

Asked if this was Leonard’s idea, Lue said, “how he feels, yes.”<\/p>\n

Lue also revealed that Reggie Jackson will start at point guard while John Wall, who sat out all of the last season with the Houston Rockets, will run the second unit.<\/p>\n

Leonard hasn’t played in a meaningful game since tearing his right ACL in Game 4 of the second round against the Utah Jazz on June 14, 2021. He played limited minutes in two of the four Clippers’ preseason games. Lue said the decision was not based on any setbacks to Leonard’s return.<\/p>\n

“Good,” Leonard said on Wednesday when asked how he physically came out of the preseason. “I still feel good. Moving in the right direction. Really haven’t been no flare-ups or setbacks, so I feel good.”<\/p>\n

This is Leonard’s first game coming off the bench since his third season with the San Antonio Spurs in 2013-14 when he played as a reserve on Nov. 10 at the New York Knicks.<\/p>\n

Leonard said that he does not play any 5-on-5 basketball during the offseason and that he typically doesn’t do so until training camp. Coming off his ACL injury, Leonard said he pretty much spent 12 to 13 months in the gym working out and adding more muscle.<\/p>\n

Lue said the Clippers scrimmaged “about two or three” times with Leonard coming off the bench over the past week.<\/p>\n

“We had a chance to bring him off the bench, start him, see how he looks and feels,” Lue said. “This is what he felt comfortable with and obviously what we are going to go with.”<\/p>\n

Lue said this could be a very short-lived idea. It will all be based on how Leonard feels moving forward.<\/p>\n

“He hasn’t played in 15-16 months,” said Lue. “We can’t expect him to be great every night. He has to understand that as well. It’s going to be a process. There are going to be some times where he looks like Kawhi Leonard, there are going to be some times where he is just trying to get a feel and not playing well.<\/p>\n

“He has to understand that, as great as he is, that it is not going to just come overnight. So we got to be patient with him in that regard and he has to be patient with himself as well.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES — Kawhi Leonard’s return started with him coming off the bench for the LA Clippers in their opener Thursday night against the host Los Angeles Lakers. Clippers coach Ty Lue said the decision to bring Leonard off the bench while on a minutes restriction was a collaborative decision between the star and the …<\/p>\n

Kawhi Leonard off bench for LA Clippers’ opener vs. Lakers<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[6],"tags":[3973,6285,68,46],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":103471,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kawhi-leonard-off-bench-in-la-clippers-win-over-lakers\/","url_meta":{"origin":103356,"position":0},"title":"Kawhi Leonard off bench in LA Clippers’ win over Lakers","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LOS ANGELES -- Kawhi Leonard's return started with him coming off the bench for the LA Clippers in their opener against the host Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night.Leonard had 14 points in 21 minutes in the 103-97 win.Clippers coach Ty Lue said the decision to bring Leonard off the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":108579,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kawhi-leonard-out-at-least-2-games-with-stiffness-in-surgically-repaired-knee\/","url_meta":{"origin":103356,"position":1},"title":"Kawhi Leonard out at least 2 games with stiffness in surgically repaired knee","date":"October 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Los Angeles Clippers have been trying to bring back Kawhi Leonard as slowly as possible, but even that process can see some delays.Leonard was ruled out for Tuesday's game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, as well as a game against the same team on Thursday, after feeling stiffness in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":108212,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clippers-will-be-without-kawhi-leonard-knee-for-two-games\/","url_meta":{"origin":103356,"position":2},"title":"Clippers will be without Kawhi Leonard (knee) for two games","date":"October 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kawhi Leonard experienced stiffness in his surgically repaired right knee and will miss the LA Clippers' two games against Oklahoma City this week.Leonard was ruled out for Tuesday night's game against the Thunder and will miss Thursday's second game in Oklahoma City. Clippers coach Ty Lue said\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":108228,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/kawhi-leonard-knee-sits-out-clippers-loss-to-thunder\/","url_meta":{"origin":103356,"position":3},"title":"Kawhi Leonard (knee) sits out Clippers’ loss to Thunder","date":"October 26, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"OKLAHOMA CITY -- Kawhi Leonard experienced stiffness in his surgically repaired right knee and missed the LA Clippers' 108-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night.The two teams will meet again, Thursday in Oklahoma City, and Leonard will sit that one out, as well.Before Tuesday's Clippers coach Tye\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":105530,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clippers-paul-george-spurred-by-ty-lue-to-lead-has-40-in-win\/","url_meta":{"origin":103356,"position":4},"title":"Clippers’ Paul George, spurred by Ty Lue to lead, has 40 in win","date":"October 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"SACRAMENTO -- LA Clippers star guard Paul George was in the middle of a big second quarter when he said a technical foul \"turned my aggression up.\" He proceeded to take his anger out on the Sacramento Kings.George exploded for 40 points to go with six rebounds and six assists\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":103521,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/clippers-vs-lakers-nba-game-recap-october-20-2022\/","url_meta":{"origin":103356,"position":5},"title":"Clippers vs. Lakers – NBA Game Recap – October 20, 2022","date":"October 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"LOS ANGELES -- \u2014 Kawhi Leonard had 14 points and seven rebounds in his first game in 16 months, and the Los Angeles Clippers opened a season of sky-high expectations with a 103-97 victory over the Lakers on Thursday night. Paul George scored 15 points and John Wall added 15\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sports"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/a1.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=\/photo\/2022\/1010\/r1073584_1296x729_16-9.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103356"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103356"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103356\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103356"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103356"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103356"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}