Warriors early season hopes may have received a boost with concern for pacific rival

The Golden State Warriors will need all the help they can get as they seek a return to the playoffs in a Western Conference that projects to be even more competitive than last season.

That includes their own injury luck, and perhaps some misfortunate for rival teams when it comes to specific matchups against the Warriors. It looks like that could be the case already, with Golden State potentially set to benefit from a major concern for the L.A. Clippers.

The Warriors could benefit from Kawhi Leonard's injury issue

As first reported by The Athletic's Shams Charania earlier on Tuesday, All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard has undergone a procedure on his knee this offseason that will limit him to strength-based conditioning at the start of training camp.

Leonard missed Team USA's successful Olympic campaign in Paris due to injury, allowing for Boston Celtics guard Derrick White to join the squad. While there's no complete update on Leonard in terms of time he may miss, his lengthy injury history has to put serious doubts on his availability to start the season.

That could benefit the Warriors who, after meeting expected conference cellar-dwellers the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz in their first two regular season games, will host the Clippers in their home opener on October 27 at Chase Center.

After the Clippers let Paul George walk to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency, the Warriors are likely to enter that game as favorites and are expected by many to be better than Ty Lue's team this season. If Leonard finds himself still on the sidelines, Golden State will be overwhelming favorites which should follow back-to-back wins to start the season.

Leonard has been dominant in his last 10 appearances against the Warriors, with the 6x All-Star having averaged 25.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting an absurd 57.3% from the floor and 56.3% from three-point range.

The Warriors and Clippers will also meet a further two times before the start of 2025 (November 18 and December 27), but will wait until the final day of the regular season for their fourth meeting on April 13.

No one should be wishing upon serious injuries for any player around the league, but if a star like Leonard happens to be out for a game against Golden State, they better be ready to take advantage of the opportunity.

For now it's fair to assume Leonard won't be taking part in the opening preseason game between the Warriors and Clippers scheduled to take place at the Stan Sheriff Center on October 5.