Kawhi Leonard on new rest rules - 'No league policy helping me play more' - ESPN

PLAYA VISTA, Calif. — Perhaps no NBA player has been associated with load management and the league's new player participation policy more than LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, but Leonard pushed back on that policy during the team's media day Monday — saying that «no league policy is helping me to play more games.»

Leonard was making his first comments since tearing the meniscus in his right knee during the Clippers' first-round playoff series against the Phoenix Suns in April. That injury marked the second time in three years that Leonard, 32, suffered a right knee injury in the postseason. He tore his right ACL during the second round of the team's 2021 run to the Western Conference finals.

After that ACL injury, Leonard missed the 2021-22 season. He has not played in more than 60 games in any season since 2016-17.

When first asked about the new policy that was passed last month, which states that teams must ensure no more than one star player is unavailable for the same game, Leonard asked what the new rules were.

When a reporter answered, Leonard responded by noting that his on-again, off-again availability with the Toronto Raptors in the 2018-19 season — when he led the team to a championship — came while he was rehabilitating a knee injury.

«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,» he 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.