“The buy in from everyone, especially players, is pretty amazing,” says a league executive. He’s talking by phone, from the NBA’s campus in Orlando where players like LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard are wearing masks and using hand sanitizer. “To watch a whole team, with superstars, walk by and swipe their Magic Bands and have them flash green, which means they filled out symptom surveys that morning, is awesome.” Anyone who has been to Disney knows a Magic Band is a dystopian digital tracking device with a Mickey Mouse logo that you can’t throw away because it is also your room key. Today, it’s a lynch pin of the NBA’s coronavirus strategy, which involves the kind of invasive oversight teams have long sought, andt the Players Association accepts in a pandemic.
Kawhi Leonard Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: F
Born: 06/29/91
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary: $32,742,000
Born: 06/29/91
Height: 6-7 / 2.01
Weight:225 lbs. / 102.1 kg.
Salary: $32,742,000
Aaron J. Fentress: FINAL Clippers 122 Blazers 117 Blazers fail to take advantage of the Clippers being without Kawhi Leonard and lose a tough game in which Damian Lillard struggled down the stretch, missing two FTs and a three-point attempt that would have tied the game. #RipCity
Andrew Greif: Clippers star Kawhi Leonard (injury management, left knee soreness) will NOT play today vs. Portland. Decision was just made. This is the same approach to back-to-backs the Clippers have taken all season with Kawhi. Clippers play Sunday, as well.
Mirjam Swanson: Trail Blazers Coach Terry Stotts on facing a Clippers team without Kawhi: “Obviously, he’s an MVP. he’s a defensive player, he’s a scorer, he’s a key to their team, so it goes without saying that they’re a better team with him — the thing for us … (against Denver) 1/
Duane Rankin: “You pretty much seen the shot. He got to his spot, pivoted and shot a fadeaway.” Kawhi Leonard describing Devin Booker’s winner in #Suns 117-115 thriller over #ClipperNation .
Josh Lewenberg: There’s only one official NBA end-of-season award that isn’t determined by media voting: Executive of the Year, which is voted on by the league’s execs. Masai Ujiri finished FOURTH last season despite acquiring Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green and Marc Gasol.
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What has puzzled players, coaches, executives and doctors is the coronavirus, the faceless opponent that brought the league to Orlando, Fla., in the first place. For all of the safety rules enacted to pull off a restart they hope will remain viable into October, there are ample concerns, and few answers, about whether contracting COVID-19 could lead to health problems for players well after they depart the Disney World campus. Philadelphia big man Al Horford called it something “I personally worry [about] and not only career-wise, but just the rest of your life.” “Yeah, that’s discussed,” Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said. “If you do get it, will it affect you to be able to play again? Everyone knows it hits everybody’s body different. But I don’t know. I’m not a doctor. I can’t really say what’s going to happen to players.”
The Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard has just got a gift from his rival. The Los Angeles Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard sent Howard some New Balance gear. Howard shared it via Instagram story, thanking Kawhi for the gear. The Lakers and Clippers are expected by many to meet in the Western Conference Finals. The two Los Angeles sides are currently occupying first and second places in the West.
At the Clippers, Leonard was joined by a determined set of individuals in Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, and Montrezl Harrell. Beverley is always termed as one of the most hard-working players. So him appreciating Leonard’s work just asserts the Klaw’s reputation. While speaking to JJ Redick on his podcast, Beverley said during the pandemic, he couldn’t do much with restrictions in the state so he decided to call up his teammates. “Let call Kawhi. I go down there and worked out with him. I thought I was a guy who worked hard when I left there, working hard was a very different mindset to what I thought I had. Working out with that man change my whole life, changed my whole game. He’s a human-machine.”
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For the second straight media availability, head coach Doc Rivers was non-committal when asked about Leonard’s health status and the team’s plan with his injury management. “I don’t know that yet,” Rivers said of Leonard’s limitations with minutes and back-to-backs. “But no limits. Kawhi is healthy, for the most part. That still doesn’t mean that we don’t want to maintain him and get him through the first eight games and get ready for the playoffs. We want to be smart about this. Not just for Kawhi. It’s with everybody. “But having everybody healthy was more about training camp. I mean, we really did not have a great training camp because we didn’t have enough bodies and enough of our key guys practicing. We have a virtually new team so we needed our new guys to be on the floor, and we didn’t have that ability to do that. This time, for the most part, we’ll have everybody in.”
But Leonard has become the inadvertent poster boy for load management, and any mystery regarding his status only fuels speculation. For now, the specifics of his health remain a mystery — remember, Rivers qualified Leonard’s health with “for the most part,” which leaves room for interpretation — and this storyline isn’t going away until games resume and there is a greater sense of where he’s at physically.
Andrew Greif: Kawhi Leonard asked about BLM: “It doesn’t matter if we have a statement on the back of our jersey, it’s about doing the work.”
Andrew Greif: Kawhi Leonard: “I feel good.” Says he’s excited to get going. pic.twitter.com/H1HIW7vR8p
Coach Doc Rivers confirmed Saturday that the Clippers’ All-Star forward did arrive at the Walt Disney World Resort as expected after Leonard was excused by the team to tend to a family matter when the Clippers flew to Orlando on Wednesday. “Kawhi, he is here, he is going through the protocol,” Rivers said. He will be quarantining for two days.
Jovan Buha: Doc Rivers says he doesn’t know the plan with Kawhi Leonard’s minutes and work load yet. He says everyone is fully healthy now. “I think it’ll be different now because of that,” Rivers said.
Kawhi Leonard arrived in the Orlando bubble
Chris Haynes: Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard indeed arrived in Orlando last night for the restart, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
Until this season, Kuzma, having spent four years in college, was older than most of his teammates. In this new scenario, Kuzma keeps himself grounded by looking around the league. “I just look at Kawhi Leonard for an example,” Kuzma said of the All-Star forward, citing his early days in San Antonio with veteran stars Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker. “He was a Spur for three, four, five years, whatever it was, waited his time behind Duncan, Ginobili and Parker, and did his thing. So I just take away progression mindset to get better every day, focus on what I can control, and my time’s coming.”
Leonard was given permission by the organization to tend to a family matter and the two-time Defensive Player of the Year and two-time NBA Finals MVP is expected to join the team on campus in a few days, sources said. The Clippers are scheduled to arrive in Orlando on Wednesday night.
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Bears players wanted to know about Kawhi Leonard’s leadership style. He’s quiet, Rivers told them, but became more vocal as the season went on. “He’s got such a great ability in my mind of demonstrating the care for the players but being able to be candid with them,” McVay said.
30 May
Best Direction: Live Sports Event. With this award, Sportsnet was honoured for the way it captured “The Shot” in Game 7 of the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals, in which Kawhi Leonard’s multi-bounce buzzer-beater helped propel the Toronto Raptors to an NBA championship.
24 May
Kawhi Leonard lost his copyright case against Nike. Leonard sought a declaration from a federal judge that his famous claw/Klaw logo did not infringe on Nike’s rights and that Nike committed fraud on the Copyright Office by registering the logo. But Leonard’s loss did not close the case. Nike still had counterclaims pending against Leonard, and it has now prevailed on one of those claims while many others remain pending. On May 18, the Oregon federal court emphasized its prior decision that upheld the validity and enforceability of the Nike contract that Leonard previously signed. It highlighted the portion of the contract where Leonard acknowledged that Nike exclusively owns all right, title and interest in intellectual property created by Nike or Leonard in connection with the contract.
Yet, while that loss may be tough for Leonard to swallow, he must now also defend against other claims that Nike brought against him after he filed his Complaint. Those claims include copyright infringement and multiple breaches of contract. At this point of the litigation, roughly a year after Leonard initiated the action, the court is unwilling to rule in favor of Nike on most of those claims and the case will proceed.
On May 18, the Oregon federal court emphasized its prior decision that upheld the validity and enforceability of the Nike contract that Leonard previously signed. It highlighted the portion of the contract where Leonard acknowledged that Nike exclusively owns all right, title and interest in intellectual property created by Nike or Leonard in connection with the contract. Leonard] acknowledges that NIKE exclusively owns all rights, title and interest in and to the NIKE Marks and that NIKE shall exclusively own all rights, title and interest in and to any logos, trademarks, service marks, characters, personas, copyrights, shoe or other product designs, patents, trade secrets or other forms of intellectual property created by NIKE . . . or [Leonard] in connection with this Contract[
Ultimately, it appears that Leonard’s case against Nike will end up backfiring against the NBA superstar. He filed his action in the wrong jurisdiction, attempting to play offense, and now finds himself in a very weak defensive position, with Nike already prevailing in certain respects. Unless Leonard is able to provide the court with some strong evidence to the contrary, it seems that Leonard may also end up being on the hook for damages related to copyright infringement and multiple breaches of contract.
. @ChrisBHaynes talks about NBA players’ desire to resume this season “Even if you don’t agree, it’s gonna be hard to go against LeBron. It’s gonna be hard to go against Giannis, Kawhi. I heard Kawhi Leonard was one of the most vocal guys on that call.”
. @ChrisBHaynes talks about NBA players’ desire to resume this season “Even if you don’t agree, it’s gonna be hard to go against LeBron. It’s gonna be hard to go against Giannis, Kawhi. I heard Kawhi Leonard was one of the most vocal guys on that call.”
Toward the end of the call discussing the ramifications of the coronavirus pandemic, all parties were in agreement to take the court with proper safety measures once the league is given the green light to commence, sources said.
The group’s decision is expected to hold significant weight in the decision-making process for the rest of the league’s players when it’s time to deliberate on whether to restart the season. ESPN reported that players association reps began informally polling players about resuming the season.
