NBA Rumors: Clippers Have Shocking Plan For Kawhi Leonard

The term "load management" was practically invented for Kawhi Leonard. Now, the Los Angeles Clippers may be taking it to a shocking new level, according to Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports. The team is considering pulling Kawhi from the starting lineup. 

Los Angeles Clippers have been considering the possibility of bringing Kawhi Leonard off the bench to start the season in order to manage his minutes, league sources tell @YahooSports.

— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) October 20, 2022

Haynes says the Clippers have been considering the possibility of bringing Kawhi Leonard off the bench to start the season in order to manage his minutes. That would certainly be a unique approach. 

The 31-year-old Leonard missed the entire 2021-2022 season recovering from surgery to repair a partial tear of his right ACL that he suffered in the 2021 playoffs. 

His absence left the Clippers as an ordinary team last year, going 42-40 and losing both of their matchups in the Play-In Tournament.

The fact that he'll be on a minutes restriction is no surprise. The Toronto Raptors' medical staff worked miracles with Leonard in the 2018-19 season, strategically keeping him to just 60 games played; he avoided injury all season and was a beast in the playoffs on their run to the championship, earning NBA Finals MVP.

The Clippers even tried to poach the Raptors' head of sports science, Alex McKechnie, after signing Kawhi in the summer of 2019, but to no avail. 

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