NBA fines Clippers $50,000 over Kawhi Leonard ‘load management’ drama

It was just on Wednesday that the NBA seemingly backed the Los Angeles Clippers’ decision to rest star forward Kawhi Leonard for that night’s game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Since then, the entire drama has taken on new meaning. Los Angeles is simply continuing with what we saw from the Toronto Raptors when they employed the reigning NBA Finals MVP last season. He won’t play both ends of back-to-backs.

The NBA has now fined Los Angeles $50,000 for making statements that are “inconsistent” with Leonard’s health status.

NBA statement on Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, in part: "The team has reasonably determined that Leonard is suffering from an ongoing injury to the patella tendon in his left knee and has been placed by the team at this time on an injury protocol for back-to-back games." https://t.co/9PxI96zZji

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 7, 2019

This all stems from Clippers head coach Doc Rivers noting prior to Leonard resting for an Oct. 30 game that he’s never felt better. We previously pointed out the mix signals said comments seemed to bring about.

Rivers made a similar statement ahead of Wednesday’s game against the Bucks.

It’s a tricky situaiton. The NBA can’t be happy when Los Angeles decides to rest one of the game’s biggest stars on national television. That’s now happened twice this season.