NBA Rumors: Clippers Committed to Kawhi Leonard, Paul George Despite Injury Histories
The Los Angeles Clippers remain committed to star forwards Kawhi Leonard and Paul George despite their injury histories, per Mark Medina of Sportsnaut.
"Despite these latest developments, the Clippers remain committed toward retaining Leonard and George, according to a person familiar with their thinking that was not authorized to discuss publicly," Medina wrote.
George missed the Clippers' entire first-round series against the Phoenix Suns with a right knee sprain. Leonard played the first two games but then sat the remainder of the Clippers' 4-1 series loss to Phoenix with a torn right meniscus.
Leonard and George are both under contract with the team for 2023-24. They each have player options for 2024-25 that they could decline to become unrestricted free agents.
Leonard and George have both missed extended periods of time because of injuries since they joined forces to sign with the Clippers in the summer of 2019.
Leonard suffered a torn right ACL during the 2021 playoffs and missed the entire 2021-22 season. George suffered a torn UCL in his right elbow that same year and played only 31 games.
Overall, Leonard has missed 147 of a possible 308 regular-season games (47.7 percent) since 2019. George has missed 119 of those games (38.6 percent).
When healthy, Leonard and George have taken the Clippers to great heights, reaching the Western Conference Semifinals in 2020 and the West Conference Finals in 2021. PG-13 has posted 23.2 points and 6.3 rebounds for the Clippers, while Leonard has posted 25.3 points and 6.7 boards. According to StatMuse, the Clippers are 83-35 when the two play together, good enough for a 70.3 percent win rate.
That's enough of a reason for the Clippers to stay committed to the duo in the hope that they remain healthy in 2023-24 and lead a lengthy playoff run. However, anything after next year is up in the air with Leonard and George both able to decline their player options to test free agency.
