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ESPN's Stephen A. Smith made a shocking statement about the LA Clippers' Kawhi Leonard, who's set to miss Game 4 against the Phoenix Suns.
On "NBA Countdown," the crew of Smith, Mike Greenberg, Jalen Rose and Michael Wilbon discussed Leonard's recent injury. Smith pointed out the Clippers star's injury history as the reason for his hot take.
"In the case of Kawhi Leonard, I stand alone probably on this, but I don't care," Smith said. "I think the man should retire. I'm sick of these injuries to Kawhi Leonard. I'm not questioning the legitimacy of any of them, but my God! Him and Paul George have played a grand total of 22.0% of their games together.
"You got Kawhi, who is religiously unavailable, okay? Then the flip side to it all is that it doesn't matter. It's like it's not even the injuries that take place before all of us. ... I'm just speaking for the city of LA. This is how a lot of people feel."
It was definitely a wild take from Stephen A. Smith, but what he said about Kawhi Leonard's injury history is true. Leonard has played 161 of the possible 308 regular season games for the Clippers since joining them in 2019.
Leonard and Paul George have played 118 games together, with the Clippers having an 83-35 record. It shows that the Clippers could have won a lot more games if both superstars were not injured most of the time.
George has already been ruled out for the first round due to a right knee sprain even before the postseason started. Leonard also suffered the same injury George suffered in Game 1.
Kawhi Leonard ruled out of Game 4
Kawhi Leonard looked like the best player in the entire postseason in the first two games of the LA Clippers' series against the Phoenix Suns. He averaged 34.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.0 steals, playing 40.0 minutes per game.
Leonard also guarded Kevin Durant on the other side of the ball, which made it even more impressive. However, he missed Game 3 with a sprained right knee, and the Clippers have ruled him out of Game 4 due to the same injury.
The 31-year-old superstar suffered the injury in Game 1 and played through it in Game 2. Injuries have robbed the Clippers of what could have been a championship-filled era of Leonard and Paul George together.
The Clippers will have to deal with the injuries ahead of Game 4 on Saturday at the Crypto.com Arena. They will look to avoid going down 3-1 to the Phoenix Suns.
