Paul George, Kawhi Leonard
Photo: essentiallysports.com

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George once again missed a game. This time the two superstars were out against the Kings as the Clippers lost 123-96.

It was a seventh straight game that George missed – he played 16 of the team’s 24 games this season. Meanwhile, Leonard has appeared just 5 times on the court so far this season.

There are some speculations in the media that the two players have a privilege of picking and choosing when to play and that is why they are missing games.

Clippers’ head coach Tyronn Lue denied such reports, saying that both Leonard and George want to play and would not miss that many games if it was about load management.

“They definitely want to play,” the 2016 NBA champion said. “Just have to be smart about it. You hate to see this happen. Kawhi missed 15 months of basketball, but you think he don’t want to play? He wants to play. PG wants to play.

“It’s just at the right time. They’re still rehabbing, they’re still progressing, doing the right things, trying to get to that point. Hopefully, we can that on this trip. I’m being optimistic about it. You’re not going to sit out 8-9 games in a row because you want to sit out.”