Los Angeles Clippers 2024-25 season preview: Their new arena is open, but title window is shut

(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports Illustration)

The 2024-25 NBA season is here! We’re breaking down the biggest questions, best- and worst-case scenarios, and fantasy outlooks for all 30 teams. Enjoy!

LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS

2023-24 finish

Offseason moves

Additions: Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Kris Dunn, Kevin Porter Jr., Mo Bamba, Cameron Christie

Subtractions: Paul George, Russell Westbrook, Mason Plumlee, Daniel Theis, Brandon Boston Jr.

Complete roster

The Big Question: Which Kawhi Leonard will they get?

Kawhi Leonard has not finished a playoff run with the Los Angeles Clippers since 2020, his first season with the team, when he was a 28-year-old freshly removed from a second NBA Finals MVP performance.

Looking back, it is remarkable how well the Toronto Raptors managed his injury on their 2019 title run. He joined them with what the San Antonio Spurs termed “right quadriceps tendinopathy” — a condition that cost him all but nine games of the 2017-18 season. He tore his right ACL in the 2021 playoffs, missed the entire 2021-22 campaign and could not keep the knee healthy for either of the last two postseasons.

We cannot overstate how much Leonard’s chronic knee issues have impacted his career. It has been eight years of this. When healthy, Leonard is one of the best two-way wings the game has ever seen. It is as if he has been programmed to dominate on both ends of the floor, complete with the personality to match. He beat LeBron James’ Miami Heat and Stephen Curry’s Golden State Warriors on his way to two rings.

Except, the program keeps malfunctioning. Even now, Leonard is not healthy. Inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee cost him his roster spot at the Paris Olympics. The Clippers will manage the soreness in his knee throughout training camp, hoping he can start the season on opening night.

“Making sure we’re staying healthy for those important moments,” Leonard told reporters on media day.

“Important moments” may never come if Leonard cannot carry the Clippers. Paul George is no longer a safety net. He left his hometown team for the chance to compete for a championship on the Philadelphia 76ers. Anyone…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/los-angeles-clippers-2024-25-season-preview-their-new-arena-is-open-but-title-window-is-shut-144814951.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-10-04 14:48:14

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