NBA Legend’s Brutally Honest Statement Amid Kawhi Leonard Injury

How will the Clippers handle Kawhi Leonard's return?

Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

The Clippers are currently in the middle of one of the strangest stories of the NBA Playoffs. The team was expected to get a healthy Kawhi Leonard to join them during the series against the Dallas Mavericks, but instead, the two-time Finals MVP found himself re-injured. Surprisingly, the team won both games that Kawhi didn't play and lost both games that Kawhi did play.

Now, it creates a huge question of, what should the Clippers do if and when Kawhi Leonard is able to return.

According to NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O'Neal, Paul George and James Harden have to tell Kawhi Leonard that he'll have to defer if he re-joins while injured.

"When PG and James play well, they're very tough to beat," Shaq said on Inside the NBA. "If he comes back, you don't defer to him. You say, 'You know what, you gotta go back to your Spurs days buddy. You gotta be a role player. We're gonna do what we do, if we happen to kick it to you at the end... He's hurt, he's not 100%, the games have shown when PG and Harden play like they play, they win games."

Surprisingly, Charles Barkley agreed with Shaq. While the two typically disagree on all of their statements, they agreed on this one.

"I don't understand why James and Paul, when Kawhi is back, just don't do anything," Barkley said. "They just stand around and watch him play. In my opinion, their mentality should be, 'Kawhi is not 100%, let's do like we did in Games 1 and 4.' When he came back in Game 2 and Game 3, it was like night and day."

The series between the Clippers and Mavericks is currently tied 2-2 with a pivotal Game 5 to be played in LA. If the Clippers can win this one without Kawhi, it'll speak volumes about just how good their current team is. If the Mavericks can't win this without Kawhi on the court, it'll speak even bigger volumes about how far away they are from actually contending.

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