Suns' Rival Lose Star Player to Begin Season

The Los Angeles Clippers will not have their top star against the Phoenix Suns.

Sep 30, 2024; Inglewood, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) during media day at Intuit Dome. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- Some massive news dropped in the sphere of the Phoenix Suns just minutes ago.

ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania broke news that the Los Angeles Clippers have ruled superstar F Kawhi Leonard out for an unspecified amount of time as he rehabs knee immflamuation that has been persistent for months - which also caused Leonard to miss Team USA's Olympic run over the summer.

From Charania:

Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is expected to be sidelined for indefinite period of time to start the NBA season as he rehabilitates the inflammation in his right knee, league sources tell me and @NotoriousOHM.

- Shams Charania on Leonard

This doesn't come as a huge surprise, as Clippers' head coach Tyronn Lue has been consistently noncommittal about the status of his best player going into the season, but it could lead to massive implications in both the 24-25 Suns' season - and the Western Conference at-large.

The Suns play the Clippers twice in the opening week of the season - including on opening night on October 23 - and Leonard's absence will inherently weaken the potency of an offense that relies heavily on him and James Harden.

The unclear timeline of Leonard's recovery is also of great interest - as the former Finals MVP has a degenerative knee condition and has been battling through various knee injuries for some years now. It is entirely possible that he remains out for months - and that would almost certainly spell doom for a Clippers franchise that came into the season with very high hopes.

This ultimately should bode well for the Suns in their quest to improve upon a 49-33 effort last season, but that certainly isn't under a guise to not want the Clippers back to full strength relatively soon.

Here's to hoping for a speedy recovery for the two-way stud. The league is a better product and more competitive when Leonard is playing.