Marcus Morris took issue with Kawhi Leonard’s injury, blaming Joe Ingles for knocking the superstar out for a year.
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Kawhi Leonard has had a bad history with leg injuries. First, he was knocked out of the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors when Zaza Pachulia occupied his landing space, injuring his ankle.
During the 2017 season, Kawhi had a quadriceps injury that kept him out for essentially the entire year. Now, in the Clippers playoff series against the Jazz in 2021. He missed the entire 2021-22 season rehabbing that ACL injury.
Now, The Claw is back for everyone to see. Leonard is still taking it easy on the minutes, not stretching himself too thin in any game. In fact, to manage his minutes, Kawhi was coming off the bench for the Clippers first few games.
Kawhi Leonard on coming off the bench: “Y’all didn’t know what was going on?”
Reporter: “Nah.”
“They didn’t tell y’all?”
“YOU didn’t tell us.”
“That’s not my job. I don’t put in the starting lineup.” 🤣 pic.twitter.com/Xum4PCG2wx
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 21, 2022
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Marcus Morris calls out Joe Ingles for Kawhi’s injury
During those ill-fated 2021 playoffs, Kawhi was driving down the lane, when Joe Ingles stepped in to block him. However, the block was mistimed, and in the end, it looked like a dirty play by Ingles.
Here’s where Kawhi Leonard suffered the apparent injury, on an intentional foul by Jazz forward Joe Ingles.
He grabbed at his knee a few times and stayed in the game before coming out a minute later. pic.twitter.com/Yii9G7p7Yp
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) June 16, 2021
Kawhi’s teammate Marcus Morris was witness to the injury, and he believes it was a cheap shot. He recently called out Joe Ingles for making the dirty play that took his teammate out for a year.
Marcus Morris blames Joe Ingles for Kawhi Leonard tearing his ACL
“I felt like it was a cheap shot in a cheap manner, probably that’s what hurt the most. It was a non-competitive play,”
(Via FOX Sports) pic.twitter.com/FrjrsCu2tz
— NBACentral (@TheNBACentral) October 26, 2022
In the end, Morris may have a point. Ingles could have been more aware of the play he was making, and how it could be dangerous. All told, the injury was massive for Kawhi in terms of his mental health and physical health, but he’s back now, and that’s what matters. Morris had to stand up for his teammate though.
Kawhi Leonard is managing his time
So far, the Clippers have played 4 games, and Kawhi has only played in 2 of those. Additionally, in those 2 games, he’s played 21 minutes each.
LA wants to play it cautious with Kawhi, knowing how valuable he is to their team’s success. A fully healthy Clippers team is a title contender, but they haven’t had that luck the last 2 years.
Come playoff time, the Clippers want both Paul George and Kawhi. They may need to sacrifice some of their regular season for that, but if it pays off in June, it’s a sacrifice worth making.
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