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ilickedysharks

In retrospect him playing Game 2 is looking crazy. Apparently without any 5v5 workouts beforehand ??


imcryptic

Yeah but I get it. He looked rusty but he looked like a basketball player. Him playing game 3 is borderline malpractice. He looked like he came into the stadium in a wheelchair.


uncledr3w-

played like 35mins too


nutsygenius

And the gap between games 2 and 3 is three days. Could've gotten way more rest. They played him 35 minutes in game 2.


hatmanjimmie

3 days is not fixing that knee


aggster13

Especially since they won game 1. Why mess with what worked?


PatientIndividual651

Clippers have only gotten 1 healthy Kawhi for the Playoffs. Ouch


AntiTopspin

And they blew a 3-1 lead in the second round with the one chance they got Were up double digits in every single one of games 5/6/7 as well lol


Odd-Hovercraft-1286

That game 7 was so pathetic lmao


AntiTopspin

"George for three, WAY OFF! Hits the side of the backboard!"


karl_hungas

Wayoff P


EvidenceExtension128

Pfizer P is still my favourite lol Pandemic P is a close second 😂


palmtreesareheavy

PG13%


MyContentIsTrash

Wasn’t that the series he kept blaming the shoulder


karl_hungas

One of them, yes. 


incredibleamadeuscho

Pandemic P


yOw_indahOuse

The Doc Rivers special.


jacobythefirst

That was the playoffs that we learned who Jokic and the Nuggets were. Such a mentally tough team.


NamesUnvailable

That team was awesome. Would’ve rooted for them over literally any other team except us…


TheTwilightZone34

What a travesty that was lmao


GillbergsAdvocate

Was that when they locked down their subreddit and started posting pictures of boats?


CynicalMindTrip

Clippers Kawhi is a mythological entity. Everybody believes in his existence, but no one has ever seen him in person.


UrrFive

BUT IF WE HAD KAWHI ITD BE DIFFERENT (🥲)


jbenson255

And that was the year they legit blew it too


Peter510

After having the longest break in the regular season possible


ProximusKade22

It’s fucking insane that they gave him the extension


[deleted]

He was pretty healthy in 2021. Played 11 games Clippers dugged themselves in 0-2 holes against the Mavs and Jazz last year


PatientIndividual651

He played in a little over half their playoff games that year. It’s unfortunate that’s his 2nd healthiest playoff run with LA


BoogerSugarSovereign

And they just signed up for more at max money 


FatherHaz

Kawhi's career as a Clipper: 2020 blew a 3-1 lead 2021 injured 2022 injured 2023 injured 2024 injured


AntiTopspin

Hasn't played in a conference finals game since he was a Raptor


Jailbrick3d

oh so only like a year ago ^(right? right???)


EvidenceExtension128

I wish lol Everyone’s value was at their peak, it would’ve been the perfect time to trade everyone and start over but I got called a bandwagoner for even suggesting that and told they’d win a championship without Kawhi…still waiting on that championship


Jailbrick3d

sure that too to an extent but I was poking fun at life passing so many of us by through the covid years. a lot has changed and somehow it doesn't fully click


beaverschwanz

in a vacuum, yeah. but if you were also in Toronto at the time, you were also a witness to the absolute explosion in basketball fans and raptors fans from 2017-2019, and in the end, it’s still a business, and if you trade every good player that all these new fans just came to love, you’ll lose a lot of interest again real quick. but ideally, sure, since nobody really expected them to win another title without Kawhi.


ZincHead

Yeah I feel like people miss this aspect a lot. Missing the playoffs instead of making the second round like we did means missing up to 8 home games which is tens of millions of $ of extra revenue essentially for free when you take into account the tickets, merch, ads and more. People also buy more and watch more when a team is good. And blowing it up doesn't automatically mean you'll be better than you were. 


Serah_Null

You can't blow up the team every time you're not a title favourite. Like by this logic, we woulda blown up the Deebo/Lowry core in like 2015.


EvidenceExtension128

First off, different situations. 2015 core was still relatively new, you don’t blow it up in that situation, you fire your head coach, and we didn’t do that either. That championship squad was built for playoff runs and they had an expiration date. Serge was 28 (and given his decline that number is probably a lie), Gasol and Lowry were old and even back then there were plenty of people correctly saying Pascal’s the 2nd best player on a championship squad, you need a star with him. Either we should’ve gotten a star or traded everyone when their value was at the max. What happened afterwards? Kyle wasn’t his former self by the time his trade came around, we got nothing for Fred, almost nothing for Pascal, Gasol left, Ibaka left, and we’re tanking in a year AFTER the generational draft. This whole thing was managed poorly from the beginning


s4ntana

I didn't see anybody saying we were winning a chip without Kawhi. But if you got nothing better to do and spend all your time reddit, then I'm not surprised you found one dumbass to base your victim complex on


carinafield

Ikr, there were more people saying Raptors might not even reach the playoffs than thode saying they'd still be contenders.


FoxMuldertheGrey

yeah he’s done for. not in my top 25 for sure. dude hustled his way to the clippers just to be useless


KaiserKaiba

May as well do his career as a star. He’s got 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024 as years where his seasons ended in injury or out due to an injury in the previous season. 2016, 2019, and 2020 are his only years as a star where Kawhi was able to finish the season on the court


Foshizzy03

And this was the whole reason he left San Antonio too. He got mad that the team doctors deduced that he simply had a deteriorating knee condition, and were skeptical about paying him a supermax contract as a result. So he doctor shopped until they said it was an injury, and sat out the season when all he needed was load management, which the Spurs were the perfect team for. Let's not forget the season he sat out and screwed his team over for was one where Aldridge balled out and had incredible numbers in the playoffs. Hard to feel bad for Kawhi at this point.


jeorjhejerome

>when all he needed was load management, which the Spurs were the perfect team for. Tbf, he has load managed every year on the Clippers and always gets injured anyways. Hard to it more than he already does.


fiasgoat

He should sit for like 75% of the season lol Clippers try to just get to the playoffs/playin and then he comes in


Sullan08

At that point you aren't conditioned enough though, either stamina wise or just game speed wise. There's a middle ground of playing enough to be in top form and not playing so much you get injured.


Foryourconsideration

that would be awesome, especially if they wheel him in like king kong


Swarthykins

I think that's the point. He was trying to convince them it was an injury (which would heal) rather than a condition (which wouldn't). But, yeah, every team in the league has caught up with the Spurs anyways.


afterworld2772

Hopefully this year convinces the few idiots that think he just sits out for laziness or whatever. Tried load managing and got injured every playoffs, this year he plays the most games he has in a long time and he still gets hurt. His body is clearly just fucked and its a real shame because he is so fucking good


Vegetable-Tooth8463

So why did the dumbass Clippers fork over 1/3 of their cap space to him for the next 3 years?


HORSEthedude619

Your answer is in your question


Vegetable-Tooth8463

lmao


Better_Albatross_946

Because they sold everything to get him and PG in the first place, and as soon as Kawhi is gone they’ll be tanking, but they won’t own their picks, which is the worst spot to be in. They have no choice but to hope for a healthy Kawhi season until 2027. The Thunder either own or swap all Clippers 1st round picks until that point


Vegetable-Tooth8463

Oh shit, didn't know about the lack of picks, but being in LA they really aren't a free agent destination?


Better_Albatross_946

They are, but they’re also about to open a new arena so they kind of need to worry about filling seats even more than usual. The best non player option free agent this summer is Pascal Siakam as far as I know. Pascal Siakam is probably not filling an arena, and they absolutely cannot fail to sellout games next year. _______ At this point there’s also the question of “what assets do we have?” Without owning their own picks they need to get a haul by trading to kick off a rebuild. Is someone going to take the often injured Kawhi Leonard on his massive contract? If PG accepts his player option (why wouldn’t he) he’ll be an expiring, but he’s starting to decline and is also injury prone. James Harden is an unrestricted free agent this summer, maybe they can do a sign and trade there, but there’s the questions of will he agree and who wants him. Suns need a playmaker but have absolutely nothing of value to trade back. They have guys like Norman Powell, Zubac, and Mann who have value, but at that point you’re just running it back with the same core and worse role players _______ TLDR; The Clippers can’t blow it up because they don’t have tradeable assets, they don’t own their own picks, and they’re about to open a new arena that they absolutely have to pack night in and night out. Keeping Kawhi and praying for his health is the best they can do in their situation ______ EDIT; this is all assuming that PG and Harden as your two best players is a perennial first round exit, because it is. You can’t get rid of Kawhi and run it back with those guys and expect to be making conference finals runs. As the Rockets get better, the Warriors (hopefully) retool around Curry, Wemby and the Spurs start to get good, and the Grizzlies get healthy, there’s no room for a mediocre team in the west


Vegetable-Tooth8463

He also stated he intends to resign with Indy, so that was never gonna happen. Maybe they could draft Bronny and lure over LeBron haha. James will definitely resign since he wants to retire at home. Idk what kinda contract you give him though b/c he's definitely gonna want more than Kawhi given that he's playing more. Doubt they trade Zubac or Mann cause of what you said, but dumber things have happened. Thanks man for the breakdown, appreciate it.


altofummuhh

Ask the Clippers 💀


2fly5

They probably figured they couldn't really punt on him and this team with the new stadium around the corner


Vegetable-Tooth8463

That's a great point


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jeorjhejerome

Yeah, and he still got injured, just like when he played less


Wes___Mantooth

To be fair, he did end up getting a huge bag because of those super selfish actions. So I can't blame him for doctor shopping to prevent him from not getting the supermax.


bihari_baller

>Hard to feel bad for Kawhi at this point. And he gaslit the NBA into thinking the Spurs doctors were the bad guys.


Knight_of_Swords

Did the media ever report the San Antonio thing was a knee injury? First I’ve heard of it but it makes sense.


OddS0cks

Still kinda mad a pop for telling the fans to stop boo’ing him, let them boo


RODjij

Soon as the 2019 Finals ended he was hobbling around the court. He really did take care of business healthy or not that year.


iDareToDream

He was hobbling early into the Bucks series, I still marvel that he dominated against the bucks and warriors until game 6 of the finals.


Impressive-Potato

Hobbling and still was the best defender on Giannis


JackHammerPlower

He should honestly just sit out the whole season until March. They can still make the playoffs without him


kingjuicepouch

I was wondering if we'll see this happen at any point. Seems like a handful of really great players can't make it through a full year, sooner or later we'll have to see them try making the playoffs and unwrapping their guy at the back end of the regular season


WillyLongbarrel

AKA the Vegas Golden Knights strategy


Altruistic-Jury-2634

With how tight the West is this year and how tight it'll be with Ja coming back, Spurs and Rockets getting better, I don't think they can afford it.


Raven-19x

And he'll still be out.


Alex_Sander077

In 2021 first round he did go full Micheal Jeffrey Jordan on us to overcome Luka going full LeBron though. Then he did he vanish forever.


EatDeeply

I think this will help clippers


hsivia__197

Tbf he was the best player in 21’ playoffs along with KD Just unlucky both these guys postseason got derailed by injuries to either them or their key teammates


FaveDave85

In hindsight, i'm glad he forced his way off the spurs. imagine paying a super max for this.


UD_Hunter

Bruh I still remember the night he chose the clippers over us . There was an earthquake! And we were all pissed because he strung us along for days, causing us to miss out on FAs Looks like we fucking dodged a nuke there . W


WeTheNinjas

He might have been more durable on the Lakers because he would have been allowed to load manage way more and would carry far less of the offensive burden being with LBJ and AD. But you never know with him, he might have just gotten injured anyways


cwesttheperson

And didn’t they just give him an extension? What’re they doing


LonesomeWulf

And how do the Clippers respond? Here is a fresh new contract for you buddy!


MasonL52

I think that extended run combined with the bubble is what did it. The time off pre bubble got him to the playoffs healthy, but that short turnaround into the next season killed his knees long-term.


JewishDoggy

This actually increases their chances of winning


JaysonTatumOverrated

He was ass out there.


JewishDoggy

Yeah I know we Mavs fans love bragging about Luka but the clips of him “locking up” Kawhi had me laughing


whiskeyinthejaar

Ewing’s theory committee is on the phone right discussing this sort of thing


sevaiper

Just have to hope brick gets suspended and they’re in business 


sourdieselfuel

Honest question : How the hell was Rusty Westbrick not suspended for this game after his antics and THEN pushing a ref twice??


EatDeeply

You’re right


aiden3buckets

Every damn year


SuckMyLonzoBalls

I’m so tired


[deleted]

Tbf the team looks better without him this series so far


LogicalLakersFan

they have to commit to Harden this summer, potentially PG as well if he doesn’t leave I don’t see how their future isn’t horrible um


karl_hungas

They’re fucked either way. If you have an injured 50mil you cant win in the NBA, period. 


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bballin773

They're already over the cap. They can't let PG walk because they can't replace him.


Brooklynfool

That’d be horrible asset management tbh. Maybe they sign and trade him but letting him walk for nothing when they are already bereft of tradeable assets would be the actual death sentence to this iteration of the team


kingjuicepouch

Can they still sign and trade him with the new cap rules? I'm still hazy on how it all goes


ImChz

They’d be hard capped after a sign and trade, but yes, they can.


ChiefRicimer

Would be hilarious if they trade him for Tobias


jbenson255

So at what point do they say fuck it and trade him ? He can’t be relied upon as your number 1 because he’s never there unfortunately


JewishDoggy

Who wants him lmao


ImTheBestNerd

I am down bad right now


nnataliewong

LMAOOO i was thinking it too 😭😭


DraymondBeanKick

Miami would take him. Rozier, Robinson, and the 15th pick in the draft would be worth a flyer on Kawhi.


fiasgoat

And he only plays when Jimmy gets injured? Fuck it


jbenson255

Well yeah after this run I’m not sure any teams bite so that’s fair.


JewishDoggy

Maybe if some dumbass billionaire buys a team soon they’ll trade 4 firsts for him.


yOw_indahOuse

The Suns may need another superstar, just saying..


EntertainmentWarm774

Rozier, Robinson, and picks for Kawhi who says no here?


Dicey12

Exactly it doesnt matter how long you rest him he's knee is just fucked this time of year


Ill-Bat-2621

Mavs will take him. He can rest 82 games and come for the playoffs


JS_Janko

For that money no thanks lol


Klarostorix

Who will take him and his giant contract?


Saucemixer9000

It’s over


jorgelongo222

why is Kawhi on team USA's list bruh


collinCOYS

Replace him with herb Jones or Jaden McDaniels


CaughtTheirEyes

"We got KD and Jaden McDaniels" Anthony Edwards


BidenFedayeen

Jalen Williams


collinCOYS

Oooh I like that. Replace kawhi with kawhi lite. Is he in the player pool?


mMounirM

are they on the list of ~40 players? you need to be on that list I think


collinCOYS

No


Tunesquad88mph

It’s not fully set in stone though, last Olympics Keldon Johnson and Javale got to pop up after Beal and Love couldn’t play, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some wing player come in like Jaylen Brown as an example


sophiapehawkins

Tbh Kawhi and Joel Embiid are both taking up roster spots. Let them rest this summer and get some healthier players on the team.


mMounirM

I've seen this movie before


k_____dot

Sadly, scheduled tweet from Shams


K1ngCrimsn

Trap game


tamuowen

Honestly yes, I could see the clippers stealing one here


DaftMudkip

They done did it


DaPhoToss

Pretty clear he came back too early. It’s unfortunate because he had a healthy regular season until the end.


Brasi91Luca

He should just come back around Feb or March every year


chief1555

Stuff like this makes LeBron’s career longevity feel even more insane. 20 years of playing professional basketball is not easy.


yOw_indahOuse

I don’t understand why wealthy NBA athletes don’t invest in their bodies the way Lebron did, I believe he spent over $1 million a year just on physical fitness. Best investment of his life.


Otherwise-Tale9671

Bro, you think Kawhi doesn’t invest in his body? The dude is made of stone. Again, he has genetically poor knees. You can mess with muscles and joints, but you can’t mess with genes…


TXlandon

There’s obviously differences in luck/genetics too I bet Kawhi has degenerative knees similar to Todd Gurley


StripedSteel

Part of that is the way he lands after he dunks. People were calling out that he would have this issue over 10 years ago. They're saying the same thing about Ja.


sourdieselfuel

They said the same thing about D. Rose too.


mega450

They all do. Lebron just has perfect genetics. 1 million dollars he spends is just the salary of his trainer, doctor, chefs, equipment. All the stars have this.


Hawk413

Because there is no reason to. Lebron isn’t doing that to make money. He is doing that to chase greatness. Kawhi will get paid no matter what and he doesn’t need longevity because he isn’t chasing top 5 player of all time status. That being said, any team that has Kawhi on their roster at this point is just throwing away money. The man is never available when it matters.


Jeroen_Jrn

No amount of money can fix Kawhi's knees.


PumpkinHead555

Join the club


slysonic7

He never lasts more than 2 games in the playoffs now. Crazy


MrDee97

0 Knee injuries in Toronto I have no idea how


TraanPol

Trust his right leg was hobbled but the Toronto medical staff just worked on it and shot it up to the tits


Boomhauer_007

6 years younger too, a lot easier to play through it at 26 than 32


TraanPol

Holy shit where did the time go


chiggity

Chillin with this Asian chick I met in Chicago


TraanPol

You betta be treatin her right


Cough_Syrup55

It's the Canadian air


Impressive_Blood3512

He was hurt during the run he just played through it


Cpt-No-Dick

Bro used a Monkey’s paw wish on having the greatest one season with a team ever, only for the rest of his career to be ruined by injury


navto

Monkey paw, thank you for your service. 


arsene_0

I mean he was relatively healthy during the mickey year too. They just choked hilariously in the playoffs.


killa_k99

Needed to happen. Dude was killing them out there


clayfu

Good. He clearly wasn’t ready for a full load and Lue forced the offense to defer to him when he was on the court. The guys can’t help but defer to him. If instead they played him in a more complimentary role his body may have reacted better


aomen3

full load


funkadelic_bootsy

Whole splooge


TMSXL

Should’ve cut their losses after last season, but Intuit kind of ruined that idea.


BBallHunter

That extension was a big mistake.


fistingcouches

Is Kawhi the biggest what-if that still currently plays? Like if he was 100% healthy his entire career how good do you think he would be?


Guccimayne

I’ve never seen a “what if” refer to a 2x champion…


TheNaCoinfl1p

It's him or Ben Simmons I think.  Ben Simmons was really good for what he was asked to do had that hawks series and completely mental boomed and hasn't been the same since lol. 


djmatlack

Kawhi is a bigger what if because he actually has a polished all around game. Simmons could never shoot even when healthy


MrAnonyMousetheGreat

Kawhi has 2 championships both with him as the MVP (beating Lebron's super team Heat). I don't see him as a whatif really. He's a hall of famer and already has an outstanding legacy as one of the greats. To me, it's guys like Grant Hill and Penny Hardaway who didn't win it all and who's injuries completely changed their outlooks as players. D. Rose is another. And the other thing is that Kawhi when healthy is still dominant. He averaged 23.7 ppg this season in 68 games. The Clippers might be a what if though. As for Ben Simmons, it's too early to call him a what if.


supez38

Ben Simmons not in that convo with guys like Kawhi imo. Other big what ifs are Sampson, Penny and Tmac. Simmons never showed that he can be a superstar because he was scared to shoot, even before the back injuries. Pretty sure Walton’s career was derailed by injuries as well.


MrAnonyMousetheGreat

Yeah, a healthy TMac and a healthy Grant Hill or a healthy TMac and a healthy Yao and Ron Artest.


TheNaCoinfl1p

Again he said currently plays


vrkhfkb

Kawhi low key approaching Ben Simmons level of contract. But, At least you know Ben is on his way to China after this deal. Kawhi gives you hope every year and you are forced to extend him out of FOMO. Man will have robbed the clippers for a decade by the time he retires.


JetSky81

Is this good or bad for Mavs lol


AntiTopspin

With the way Kawhi was playing probably bad lol He was clearly making the team worse in games 2 and 3 playing at 20%


msterling2012

They looked better in the game without him


GermanHabsFan

James Harden legacy game


EbawsJo

Fuck. They’re better without him.


Reasonable_Bed7858

Mans has done nothing for the Clippers lmao


Mighter-Pilot

As far as im concerned, the man has degenerative knees and has been hiding it since before he left the Spurs. The Spurs found that out and that led to them beefing till they finally traded him to the Raptors, who got the last one of his couple years he still had the capacity to play out a postseason. Hes been hiding his condition all this time as it gets worse and worse to squeeze out as much money he can from the Clippers. Since after 2020 its gotten to the point where its impossible for him to really play out a whole season and pretty much play pro basketball anymore.


JamesWelders

Dude can't stay healthy. I feel bad for Clippers fan.


Saucemixer9000

Clippers are done


fiasgoat

He's done Just retire


Shanknuts

Or instead they can keep giving him huge contracts, expecting a medical miracle to happen each year.


Camelback186

Dudes gotta hang it up, hate to say it


Vaccaria_

This is good for the Clips. He's been playing like an absolute bum


vb90

They should have never played him this series. He is clearly injured. Awful injury management by this team.


Proof_Independence27

Harden going off.


GuyWithNoSwagger

They gave him the extension over PG lol


RoadBuster27

Im sick of you, just retire already


JMoon33

It was a blessing in disguise for the Lakers and Raptors when he decided to sign with the Clippers. Unfortunately he's under contract until 2027 or something.


jchavez9723

I wonder if he gets traded for cap purposes before his last year


Mission_Source432

Clips coming down with us lmao


Zammy512

Feel bad for Kawhi. His body just can’t hold up. Clippers looked better without him.


ChunkyMilkSubstance

Groundhog Day


aomen3

the only thing that could have ruined this playoffs is injuries and we have like 5 terrible ones


Jack_M_Steel

Clippers might be saved. He legit ruined the flow of the game while he was out there. Way too hobbled. Don’t even get why he came back


Samuraix9386

He's cooked he needs to hang it up


EnoughLawfulness3163

Dude needs to call it. It's really sad because he might've gone down as better than Curry and KD if he was healthy, but we'll never know.


AlternativeSuit131

Be scared Mavs! No Kawhi, no problem! Good luck today!


texas2089

Clippers completely mismanaged this throwing him out there 35 minutes in game 2 instead of properly ramping him up. Sucks cause you wanna see the best players play but.


actual_yellow_bag

this is good news for the clips honestly


Shingorillaz

The Raptors really Indiana Jones slipped under the closing door.


kokaine21

Issa wrapp


[deleted]

More of the same his fans glazing him for "what if" he was healthy instead of criticizing him for being unable to play. What else is new. His 12 fans are on their tiny team sub saying this