The joy for the game of basketball remains strong for Kawhi Leonard.
The injuries that have robbed him from playing time have not taken away Leonard’s passion for the game. The inability to play this season because of a right knee injury he had to manage has not lessened Leonard’s happiness for basketball.
He’s 33 and has spent the last five of his 13-year NBA career with the Clippers, and his “love” for the game has only grown.
That is what has motivated Leonard through it all and it’s what he will lean on when the Clippers face the Nuggets in Game 1 of the Western Conference playoffs starting Saturday afternoon in Denver.