Around the NBA: Kawhi goes down while Lonzo returns

Kawhi Leonard will reportedly be shut down indefinitely, Lonzo Ball makes his return to the court and more from around the NBA.

We’ve just about made it gang — the 2024-25 NBA regular season is nearly upon us. With just a weekend of preseason games left, let’s take a look around and see what else is going on in the association.

ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ohm Youngmisuk reported Thursday that Clippers wing Kawhi Leonard will be out for an “indefinite time” to start the season. Leonard will be rehabbing inflammation in his right knee for “sustainability” on the court.

Not only is the story itself a bummer, but also just how entirely unsurprising it is as well. Leonard only made it through a week or so of training camp with Team USA this summer before the Clippers decided to bring him back.

Knee issues have plagued Leonard the entire time he’s been in Los Angeles. The 68 games he played in the regular season last year were by far the most he’s played in a regular season for the Clippers, and he once again struggled to be available for their playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks. It’s just a shame to see one of the best players in the league have his prime cut down due to injury.

Another casualty of this preseason is incoming Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein, who broke a bone in his left hand this week in a game against the Denver Nuggets. ESPN is reporting that Hartenstein won’t be evaluated for another 5-6 weeks.

This is a tough break for the Thunder, who will have to wait until at least December now to integrate their newest piece as they hope to compete for a championship. They should be able to do more than keep themselves afloat in that time though, as they’re mostly running back a roster that claimed the No. 1 seed in the West last season.

It’s at least comforting to know the Sixers aren’t the only team getting banged up in the preseason.

In some positive injury news, Bulls guard Lonzo Ball took the court this week, the first time he’s played in an NBA game in over two calendar years. He’s gone through quite the journey to get back on the court. It was good to see him get recognition from the fans when he checked in.

And to cap things off, he had a good night in 15 minutes of play, finishing with 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting. This was Ball’s first NBA game since January 14, 2022. For some perspective on that, Ben Simmons was on the Sixers’ roster the last time Ball played in an NBA game.

Lastly, it was reported this week that Sacramento Kings guard De’Aaron Fox is bypassing a three year, $165 extension he could sign before this season. This caused some speculation that the Kings may be angling to trade for another star, especially after the Kings traded former Sixer Jalen McDaniels to open up a roster spot.

Though it is likely Fox is holding off until next summer when he can sign for more years for a larger number. The new CBA restrictions make any of those kinds of trades tricky, as well as a lack of available stars on the market at the moment. This is likely just Fox taking the Tyrese Maxey route, so he can sign for over $200 million dollars next summer.