Ty Lue: Kawhi Leonard, Paul George to seriously approach regular season

Ty Lue and the Los Angeles Clippers are plotting for a new approach on the upcoming 2023-24 regular season which highlights both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.

In his appearance on the “All The Smoke” podcast of Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, Lue made it known that he and his star swingmen are all locked in to take the next regular season on a much serious basis.

“One thing I told Kawhi and PG this summer [is] we do gotta approach the regular season a different way,” he said. “Like let’s be serious about it. 

“Let’s not wait until the playoffs, because it matters — who you get matched up with, having home court advantage, not fighting the last 10 games of the season so we won’t be in the Play-In. So now you can get rest, now you can get yourself together and be ready for the playoffs. So they both understood that as well.”

Since joining the Clippers in 2019 on a blockbuster union, Leonard and George have been subjected by the Clippers to various load management in order to preserve them away from injury issues in preparation for the playoffs. But amid this, the duo haven’t gained full availability when it mattered the most, and Los Angeles hasn’t attained that elusive title yet.

Last season, Leonard was just limited to 52 games as the Clippers cautiously managed his healed ACL. George, for his part, suited up for 56 matches and was sidelined for the last three weeks of the club’s regular season campaign due to a leg injury. Their unavailabilities ultimately hindered the franchise in the postseason as they were outlasted by the Phoenix Suns in five games of their first-round encounter.

Lue further echoed his frustration on the hardships that his team has been facing due to injuries. He also dismissed the false notion of the majority about the intentions of load management for both Leonard and George.

“It’s been tough,” Lue said. “It’s been frustrating especially as a coach, for the fans, as an organization because we feel like we have the potential to win a championship. We have all the pieces, all the right pieces. And we have two great stars like PG and Kawhi – two of the best stars I’ve been around, both ways, two-way players but not a headache… Like you can go to those guys and ask them to do anything, and they’ll do it.”

“It’s just unfortunate because everybody [says] the ‘load management’ and they kind of gives those guys a hard time. But at the end of the day, you think they don’t want to play in the [NBA] Playoffs? These are real significant injuries.”

He added: “You try to manage guys to get to that point, when we get to the playoffs, we can finish the season, and it just hasn’t been that way. So it’s not a thing where they sitting out on load management in the playoffs, like that’s the dumbest sh— I’ve ever heard.”