#BrouCrew Stand Up: Chris Broussard Says He Talked To Someone "In The Know" And The Clippers Are Concerned About Kawhi Leonard's Knee
Jacob Kupferman. Getty Images.Oh hell yes!!
Well, not hell yes that Kawhi's knee could be messed up, but hell yes that we're so back baby
The old "I talked to someone in the know" line, which is definitely a classic that we see all these guys use on their shows. Frankly, as someone with not just zero sources but negative sources I'll never thumb my nose up at this stuff. Maybe it's true! Why can't Chris Broussard have connections and #sources? Sure, maybe there was that little dust up with Kevin Durant a few years ago
and there have also been times where KD has had to make Stephen A bend the knee for apparently making shit up on numerous occasions
but let's try and stay focused here. We cannot rule out that Broussard did talk to someone "in the know" and what I love about that is it could be literally anyone. How "in the know" are we talking? Is it Steve Ballmer's assistant? Someone with the training staff? Someone on the coaching staff? A random member of Clippers Twitter? Is it Kawhi's camp? Is it all just made up? The possibilities are endless!
The beauty in it is of course, its obscurity. There's no way to prove it one way or another, but it gets people moving. It gets traction, headlines, blogs, etc. A veteran of the craft, that was about as textbook as you'll ever see from Broussard, which tells us he certainly hasn't lost his fastball.
As is often the case when it comes to stuff like this, we have ourselves a good old fashioned #SourceOff!!
Damage control or the truth? You decide.
Now let's put all that to the side for a second and talk about what it actually means for Kawhi if there's some substance to the reporting that there is "swelling" or whatever around his knee and the Clippers are "concerned"
Uhhhhhhhhhh yeah man. That's a big time problem!
The reality is that Kawhi hasn't played in a game since April 2nd. Part of that is simply due to the fact that the Clippers already secured the 4th seed with a handful of games left, so there was obviously no reason to play him. But considering a healthy Kawhi is one of the greatest players the league has ever seen, this idea that his knee is still not right a week before the playoffs start is absolutely concerning when you want to talk about the Clippers' chances not just in the first round against a red hot Mavs team, but also their ability to win the title altogether. You're not doing that with a version of Kawhi that is not healthy.
Should Kawhi not be healthy and the Clippers experience a first round exit, what does that mean for their future? Does Paul George decide it's time to go somewhere else? Do the Clippers decide to pay James Harden? They already locked Kawhi into his extension, but if this is another lost playoff run due to his injury, who's to say they don't try and change course?
As someone who cannot wait to see LAC/DAL and as someone who prefers every team to have full health for this soon-to-be epic playoff run, I am hoping this is all fugazi and Kawhi is going to be fine. We as fans deserve to see full strength Clippers vs full strength Mavs, as it could easily be the best matchup of the entire first round, and you could make the case that the winner of that series has as good a shot as any to be the ones to dethrone the Nuggets and win the whole thing should they meet in the WCF.
But if Kawhi somehow misses Game 1? Yeah, it'll be time to panic and we'll have to come back to Broussard and give him his flowers.