Kawhi Leonard Los Angeles Lakers
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On the heels of the Los Angeles Clippers being eliminated from the playoffs by the Phoenix Suns in a five-game, first-round series, team president Lawrence Frank spoke on a number of topics about the team's future. He touched on wanting to bring back Russell Westbrook next season after a successful stint with the team this year. He mentioned the desire to sign Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to long-term extensions, and how the team needs to put in more effort in the regular season.

As it relates to Leonard's recently announced torn meniscus, which was reported earlier this week, Frank pretty candidly said that the team knew of Leonard's torn meniscus after Game 2 of that series. That's pretty surprising considering it wasn't reported until after the series was over, and given the team listed Leonard as having a knee sprain.

It's not totally uncommon for a team to hold a player's injury details close to the vest, especially in a playoff situation where you don't want to reveal too much to the opponent. But we've seen the NBA fine teams in the past for misreporting injuries, so it'll be interesting to see if the league steps in at all to take a look at that.

The other bit of information Frank shared about Leonard's injury was that regardless of the route he takes in his recovery, whether that be to have surgery or not, he should be ready to go at the start of next season. That's a sliver of good news for a Clippers team that has been bogged down with injuries for three-straight postseasons. Since Leonard and George joined L.A. back in the summer of 2019 they've fallen short of their championship-expectations each year due to injuries to one or both of them.

With the 2023-24 season being the last before Leonard and George can opt out of their player options next summer, this upcoming season has some significant weight to it for the Clippers. So hearing that this latest injury to Leonard won't sideline him into next season is good news for a Clippers team that will look to rebound from this year's early exit and hopefully contend for a championship.