“I’m here to be a Clipper…. am here for the long run!”: Kawhi Leonard talks about his 4-year deal, his loyalty to the franchise, and his injury status

Clippers’ superstar Kawhi Leonard talks about wanting to return this season, and why he chose a 4 year deal over a 5-year supermax

The Los Angeles Clippers have something to look forward to in the coming years. They have their fancy new arena being built, which should be ready by 2024. Along with that, they also have their stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George locked down till the same time. Ideally, they should be able to see their stars ball out in the new arena.

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Last year, the Clippers missed their best shot at an NBA Finals trip. Kawhi Leonard had suffered a right knee partially torn ACL. Even though Paul George put up big numbers, Chris Paul and the Suns were a little too much for him to handle alone. On media day, Kawhi Leonard talked about his new contract, his loyalty to the Clippers. He also talked about his injury status.

“I’m here for the long run”: Kawhi Leonard talks about being a Clipper

Kawhi Leonard like the Los Angeles Clippers, and he made the same known. Back in August, Kawhi signed a 4-year, $176.3M deal. It was expected that Kawhi would play on his current deal, opt-out next year, and then sign a 5-year supermax with the Clippers. As expected, that was one of the questions asked to him during the press interaction.

Kawhi replied and said,

“Because I wanted to play. I mean, the best situation for me to me was to do it one and one and then opt out and sign a long-term five-year deal, but there’s a lot of concerns that that brings up for you guys and your job and it creates storylines that I’m going to leave the team. One thing, I wanted to secure some money, and I wanted to be able to come back if I was able to this year. If I would have took the one and one, I probably would have not played just to be cautious and opted out and took a five-year.”

“I’m here, I’m here to be a Clipper. I’m not going to any other team. Am here for the long run.”

Kawhi Leonard explains his decision to sign the 4-year deal as opposed to the 1+1 and then the 5-year max deal. pic.twitter.com/37Oc9fNrGx

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) September 27, 2021

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Kawhi said that he wants to stay, which is great news for any and every Clippers fan.

Kawhi talks about his knee injury

A torn ACL is an injury that can take a player out easily for a season. We saw the same with Klay Thompson, who suffered a torn ACL, playing against Kawhi Leonard in the 2019 Finals. He was out for an entire year due to the recovery.

Talking about his recovery, Kawhi said,

“Just working with the staff day-to-day. When that available date comes, we’ll be ready for it, and it’ll be out in the public.

“That’s the challenge of it, just seeing how quickly I can get better and how much stronger I can get.”

– Kawhi Leonard on his rehab, potential return pic.twitter.com/PtDgKQcwac

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) September 27, 2021

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Hopefully, Kawhi’s recovery is faster, and he returns stronger than ever.

The Clippers are headed to San Diego for a training camp. They would return for their first home pre-season game on 4th October.