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Clippers Looking Ahead to Healthy Kawhi Leonard and Paul George
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The Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era in Los Angeles has yet to produce the NBA Championship result that many anticipated it would. Injuries and a global pandemic have played a huge part in the team's inability to accomplish their ultimate goal; however, with both Leonard and George locked up long term, the team still believes in the future of their superstar duo.
After the Clippers lost in the final play-in game vs. the New Orleans Pelicans, ending what was a hard fought season, everyone who spoke after the game shared their optimism for next season.
"Whenever you have a Kawhi Leonard and Paul George like team, you feel confident in that," Reggie Jackson said. "We hope we can get our guys back, get everybody fully healthy. Yeah, I think the sky's the limit when you get those two. It's going to be about hopefully getting them healthy, meshing, and everybody, like I said, improving individually, then us coming together as a collective to figure out how we can be better as a team, hit the ground running next year."
Ty Lue reflected similar sentiments, saying that "We get our main guys back. I mean, we can be dangerous. Health is part of it. We got to stay healthy, continue to work. Like I said, right now we got what we got." Lue continued, saying, "I mean, when you get Kawhi back, top five player, PG, a perennial All-Star, your team changes tremendously. Guys who have taken on bigger roles this year who have never been in this position before, they can kind of fall back into their original roles. We could be very different with those two guys back and those two guys healthy. Like I said, with Norm being able to get us up on track, learning the plays, our system, what we're trying to do. We can be special."
Robert Covington, one of the newest Clippers, expressed his excitement about potentially returning to the team as a free agent next year, and seeing what he can do alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. Nicolas Batum shared similar sentiments, and while he has had an opportunity to play alongside those two, he has yet to get a full playoff run alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
While it wad a disappointing end to the season for the Clippers, the team is optimistic about what's to come.
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