A July 20th update reveals that, upon his arrival in London, Kawhi Leonard participated in his first training session with the USA Basketball team on Friday. He is anticipated to make a comeback and participate in the last two pre-Olympic warm-up games leading up to the Olympics.
Earlier, USA Basketball head coach Steve Kerr expressed his hope that Leonard would be able to play, stating, “Of course, I want him to play, but we have to take it day by day. We will see how he is tomorrow before making any decisions.” Therefore, it remains possible that Leonard might not feature in the upcoming match against South Sudan, but his participation in training suggests significant progress in his leg injury recovery.
Leonard sustained an injury during a training session in mid-June, with no specific timeline provided by the team. Over the past two weeks, he has missed all of the USA Basketball activities. Leonard acknowledged his concerns about the recovery process potentially impacting his participation in the Olympics. “Every day, there are those worries,” he said. “But every day, I’m seeing progress.”
“This is a type of injury you need to monitor daily. Every day, after performing actions and exercises, I assess how I feel. But my goal is to keep pushing and see what happens.” Regarding this injury, Leonard mentioned that his previous left calf injury in 2019 did not affect his perspective on the current recovery process, as it occurred before his torn Achilles tendon in the NBA Finals that year.
Leonard is the highest-scoring player for the USA Basketball team in Olympic history, averaging 19.8 points over the past three Olympic tournaments.