Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard admitted that his knee injury is not responding the way he and the team had hoped following Game 3 against the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
“It didn’t respond the way we wanted it to,” Leonard said following the 101-90 loss to the Mavericks. “Tonight it was either play limited minutes or not play and I wanted to be on the floor to help the team.
“Frustrating that it happened to me this late in the season, but we’re going to keep going and we’re going to get it right.”
The 32-year-old had nine points and nine rebounds over 25 minutes in Game 3, but he and the team are going to continue to monitor how his knee feels to gauge how best to manage his minutes going forward.
“He’s trying to find his way back,” head coach Tyronn Lue said. “We’re just managing it. Just being smart, making sure we do it right by Kawhi and seeing how he feels and just kind of gauge it from there.”
Leonard returned to the Clippers’ lineup ahead of Game 2, after which he said his knee “felt good.” He had been sidelined since March 31 with right knee inflammation, which president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank said was unrelated to previous medical issues with the same knee.
Prior to the playoffs, Leonard had the healthiest regular season of his career, playing in 68 games and averaging 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.6 assists.
