Kawhi Leonard said the NBA’s player participation policy will not influence how he approaches whether or not he plays in games. Leonard is coming off a meniscus tear in his right knee suffered in the first round of the playoffs in April. Leonard also tore his right ACL during the 2021 playoffs.
“I’m not a guy that’s sitting down because I’m doing load management — well, when I was with the Raptors, it was different; like, I was coming [off] an injury,” Leonard said. “And you have to know the details from the doctor.
“But if the league is seeing or trying to mock what I did with the Raptors, they should stop because I was injured during that whole year. But other than that, if I’m able to play, I’ll play basketball. I work out every day in the summertime to play the game. So, no league policy is helping me to play more games.”
Regarding the new policy, Ty Lue said, “If our players are healthy, they’re going to play. I know there’s a big thing, like, our guys don’t like to play or whatever, but that’s not true. Our guys want to play. Unfortunately, they’ve had injuries… So, if our guys are healthy, they’re going to play, and that’s all we’re really focused on.”