Clippers will hold Kawhi Leonard out of drills during training camp - ESPN

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers have gone through a variety of treatments to control the inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee since the end of last season and while the inflammation has gone down, the star forward will be held out of drills in next week's training camp to get him back to full strength.

Clippers president Lawrence Frank said Tuesday that the swelling in Leonard's knee had decreased «significantly.» But a cautious Frank was also non-committal about Leonard being ready for the regular season.

«I think that the timing's all going to basically depend on how his knee responds to each phase,» Frank said. «No one has a crystal ball.»

Leonard and the Clippers are trying to get the knee to full strength and want to avoid the situation like during the first round of the playoffs against Dallas when the stubborn inflammation returned and held Leonard to just two games played during the six-game loss to the Mavericks.

Clippers coach Ty Lue said that there isn't a plan yet to implement Leonard into any practices and that they would rely on the team medical staff's guidance. The plan, Frank said, is to have Leonard work on strength training for his knee before returning.

«We're just really going to focus on strengthening and loading,» Frank said. «I think we learned some lessons. Just if you think about it, he desperately wanted to come back and play in that Dallas series, and within a game and a half, the inflammation came where it wasn't manageable, so we don't want to put ourselves in that position.»

Leonard missed the final eight games of the regular season with inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee. He returned to the playoffs to play in Games 2 and 3 against Dallas