Lawrence Frank on a potential Kawhi Leonard return this season: No one knows
Source: Twitter @AndrewGreif
What’s the buzz on Twitter?
Andrew Greif @AndrewGreif“Roster-building is still very much ongoing,” Lawrence Frank said, when asked about the dearth of point guards on the depth chart. Frank said he doesn’t think of it in terms of a “point guard” but who can they add to lift a burden from PG and Kawhi? It doesn’t have to be a guard. – 1:48 PM Ohm Youngmisuk @NotoriousOHM
Asked Lawrence Frank if it’s realistic to see Kawhi Leonard return this season. Frank: “We don’t know. No one knows. He doesn’t know.” He said team has seen how hard Kawhi is working to get back to full strength. – 1:46 PM Law Murray @LawMurrayTheNU
Frank on Kawhi Leonard’s possibility of returning this season: “No one knows. He doesn’t know… really, nothing has changed.” – 1:39 PM Andrew Greif @AndrewGreif
Realistic to see Kawhi Leonard this season?
“We don’t know,” Lawrence Frank said. “No one knows, he doesn’t know but all you can do is every day continue to control what you can control.” – 1:39 PM Mark Medina @MarkG_Medina
Amid uncertainty on when Kawhi Leonard & Paul George will return, the Clippers bolstered their roster to make a playoff run w/ or w/out their stars. My dispatch on how the Clippers thread the needle between adding talent while keeping roster flexibility https://t.co/Qh9L8pqD2p pic.twitter.com/q2Xxtk5IaM – 9:08 PM Andrew Greif @AndrewGreif
Norm Powell, come on down. The Clippers swing a trade in an effort to limit those scoring droughts short term, and be a complementary piece alongside Kawhi and PG long-term: latimes.com/sports/clipper… – 5:56 PM Yossi Gozlan @YossiGozlan
The Clippers now have Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Norman Powell, Marcus Morris, Terance Mann, Luke Kennard, and potentially Nic Batum (player option) and Robert Covington (UFA) going into next year.
As much as they love having a surplus of wings, I can’t imagine they keep all 9. – 3:42 PM Vivek Jacob @vivekmjacob
Just saw the deal, trade reflects the most logical respective directions for the Blazers and Clippers. Do we see Dame in a Portland uniform again? PG and Kawhi gotta come back at some point this season, right? – 3:42 PM StatMuse @statmuse
Clippers new small ball lineup:
Reggie Jackson
Paul George
Norman Powell
Kawhi Leonard
Marcus Morris
6th man: Terance Mann pic.twitter.com/FZDUSPL8fb – 3:22 PM Henry Abbott @TrueHoop
Today on BRING IT IN, @David Thorpe said that even after news Kawhi likely won’t return, he’d keep playing all in, to win … and I guess they think the same way at LAC because a few hours later they traded for Norman Powell and Robert Covington. truehoop.com/p/bring-it-in-… – 3:18 PM Ohm Youngmisuk @NotoriousOHM
Thinking about what Ty Lue will be able to do with Reggie, Powell, PG and Kawhi. When PG went down before Christmas, was told Clips still wanted to maintain core around Kawhi and PG with eyes on next season. And they look like a playoff team with Powell and Covington this season – 3:05 PM Kristian Winfield @Krisplashed
I can’t believe the Clippers have Norman Powell and Robert Covington TO GO WITH PAUL GEORGE AND KAWHI LEONARD – 2:49 PM Michael Pina @MichaelVPina
this is a great deal for the clippers, with impact felt next season more than this one (assuming they use roco’s bird rights to bring him back). powell obv won a title with kawhi in 2019 and is good. roco not having to guard on ball and getting extra room on 3’s is a win – 2:47 PM Ryan Wolstat @WolstatSun
What an awful deal for Portland and terrible asset management (granted, in retrospect and management has changed). Meanwhile, Clippers trying to put the championship Raptors back together. Problem is Kawhi and Serge aren’t healthy. – 2:46 PM Adrian Wojnarowski @wojespn
The emergence of Anfernee Simons allows for the Blazers to move off the balance of Norman Powell’s long-term contract — and gives the Clippers a proven two-way wing to partner with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. – 2:44 PM Eric Patten @EricPatten
Powell,Ibaka, and Kawhi have something in common? 🤔 – 2:37 PM David Morrow @_DavidMorrow
When Kawhi gets back…. Man. Norm will be an excellent sixth-man type for them, and imagine the defensive versatility of PG/Kawhi/Covington together. – 2:35 PM Chris Herrington @ChrisHerrington
That deal presumably shores up Clippers as a postseason team and candidate to get above the play-in line, but Powell will be a good fit (and Covington too if re-signed) with Kawhi/George next season. – 2:31 PM Sam Quinn @SamQuinnCBS
So let’s say the Clippers have Kawhi and PG back healthy next season.
Their supporting cast, right now, looks like this: Jackson, Morris, Batum, maybe Covington, Powell, Mann, Zubac, Kennard, Boston, Preston, Coffey, maybe Hartenstein, maybe an MLE.
Expensive but awesome. – 2:30 PM