Leonard underwent knee surgery in May, and the news didn't come to light until a few days ago. His method of concealing information is really the league's first-rate, and everyone from Harden to Clippers management has been kept in the dark. For the Clippers, the team is going to move into a new arena, but Leonard has exposed this injury, which really makes people doubt whether he can continue to play basketball, and selling tickets has an impact. But it is undeniable that now the Clippers are really dependent on his physical condition, including Harden and Leonard.
Relying on the current Harden, even if he can lead the playoffs, he can't win the championship. This makes everyone expect Leonard to bring good luck, and even the American media posted the data of Leonard's appearance in the Clippers today. According to statistics, Leonard has played a total of 229 regular season games in his five seasons with the Clippers, with 45.8 games per season. He missed 41 percent of the Clippers' games, but the Clippers won 65 percent of the games when Leonard was available and 38 percent in his absence, which is a stark contrast.
In addition, Leonard's career game win rate of 72.7% is the first in the active league, which is higher than James's 64.7%. With Leonard available, he's a superstar who plays both offensively and defensively. Interestingly, Leonard averaged a horrific 28.1 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game last season when George was absent, shooting 180 from the field. This is also the reason why the Clippers let go of George, if Leonard is healthy, the combination of him and Harden and some instant combat power, the Clippers' overall roster resource allocation is more reasonable.
This is also the reason why Clippers president Frank is still very optimistic about the prospects of the Clippers when talking about Leonard's current situation and the role that Harden will need to take on next season. Frank did reveal some good news today, Leonard had surgery in May, he was hiding the injury, but after a few months of recovery. Leonard should have a chance to play in the new season, mainly to see how many games he can play, whether he can completely get rid of the injury and return to full health?
"We did a good job in the offseason, despite losing George," Frank said. But we got Porter Jr., Jones, Batum back, and characters like Dunn and Bamba. I think the defense is going to get a big boost. As for Leonard, I've got reliable information on how far it has progressed. He's gone through most of his inflammation problems, and the injury is really troublesome. But as time goes on, it gets better and better. We'll continue to see what happens, and I think it's going to be optimistic. After all, we still have James Harden, he may need to score more, and we will use him as the core of the attack! ”
Frank also explained why Leonard had surgery in May, saying that after Leonard played two games with the Mavericks, it was inflammation that was bothering him. The Clippers thought there was nothing wrong with his knee, but he ended up having knee surgery anyway. The Clippers really didn't know about this surgery, and it was a unilateral decision by Leonard and his team. Although the Clippers were caught off guard, the good news is that it has been back for so long that it won't be reimbursed for the season, right?
The most important thing is that Harden can't go either. He and George can't compare, George ran away and went directly to Philadelphia to partner Embiid and Maxey. Harden unknowingly stayed with the Clippers to accompany Leonard, and it wasn't his problem, it was that Kazi was too good at concealing it. But there is no choice for Harden, he can only take the road arranged by the Clippers. After all, Harden still has to go to the free market to get a big contract in 25 years, he needs to explode in statistics in the new season, and he needs to prove that he still has gas. And the mess left by Leonard is precisely the stage for Harden's performance, and the health problem of the card is the basis for whether Harden can win the championship. These are two things, and Harden now has to brush up on the data first, and the big contract is the top priority.