LA Clippers Could Dominate NBA Awards After Season Ends
Before the NBA season was indefinitely suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak, the LA Clippers were enjoying their best season in franchise history. A Conference Finals appearance seemed like a guarantee, and an NBA Finals trip could have ended with Kawhi Leonard and co. hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy over his head once more.
Of course, all of those things can still happen — it'll just be a few months later than we all expected.
The season isn't the only thing being pushed back, either. The NBA Draft Lottery was scheduled to take place earlier this week, while the NBA Draft and start of free agency have already been postponed as well. There's one event that hasn't been included in reports that will eventually be pushed back, too: The 2020 NBA Awards.
The fourth annual ceremony was expected to take place in June, shortly after the conclusion of the NBA Finals. It's hard to imagine it going on as it has in the past given the circumstances, but a remote show still seems like a possibility.
Regardless, the hardware will still be handed out to the players, coaches and executives that are most deserving — and the LA Clippers could dominate that list.
At the very least, the franchise should have a stake in five of the major awards. That includes Most Valuable Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year.
Let's get the least likely ones out of the way first: MVP and DPOY.
Kawhi Leonard has played at an MVP-level this season, averaging a career-high 26.9 points, 7.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists per game. He has a legitimate case to be the recipient, too. Basketball-Reference's MVP Tracker has him pegged at No. 6, between Luka Doncic and Nikola Jokic. But the award is usually given to the best player on the best team, and that player is Giannis Antetokounmpo once again.
Leonard has a shot to finish among the top 5, and maybe even the top 3 if he keeps up his stellar play once the NBA returns, but it's hard to picture him finishing ahead of Antetokounmpo.
DPOY is a bit more likely, since the Clippers could have two candidates in Leonard and Paul George. Both players finished among the top 7 in last year's voting, and the two have spearheaded one of the league's best defenses all season long. Availability will end up hurting them, given they've missed 33 combined games this year, but both players could end up among the top 10.
The remaining three awards should all feature members of the franchise as finalists.
After finishing in third place in last year's Coach of the Year vote, Doc Rivers finds himself in a similar position this season — though the circumstances are very different.
In 2018-19, Rivers coached a squad that was expected to be a draft lottery lock to the playoffs, where they took the top-seeded Golden State Warriors to six games in the first round.
This year, he's maneuvered his team near the top of the Western Conference standings despite health being a major deterrent. As noted in Friday's article, the Clippers have used 29 unique starting lineups this season, and 23 of those have only been used once. Rivers and his coaching staff have absolutely made the most of the situation, which only helps his case.
That said, Mike Budenholzer appears set to win the award for a second-consecutive year after coaching the Milwaukee Bucks to a league-best 53-12 record.
Executive of the Year will almost certainly end up in the hands of Lawrence Frank.
Frank has been considered the favorite all season long after helping recruit Leonard and George to the team, and it's not hard to see why. Leonard was the most coveted free agent on the market, and George was fresh off an MVP-caliber year with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He's helped build the Clippers into one of the league's fiercest contenders over the last few seasons, and it's time he gets recognition.
And lastly, for the third-straight season, the Sixth Man of the Year award is guaranteed to go to the Clippers — though it may not be given to Lou Williams this time.
Montrezl Harrell was a finalist for the award in 2019, and he's even more deserving this time around. He's improved his numbers across the board with LA this season and has been one of the team's most consistent players all year long.
That's not to say Williams isn't deserving of a three-peat. The 33-year-old guard put together another spectacular season and has been the reason why the Clippers have won a handful of games this year. That said, his previous two seasons are more impressive than this one, and Harrell has been the more efficient player.
Either way, the competition doesn't stack up against Williams' or Harrell's impressive campaigns. Maybe they'll be named Co-Sixth Men of the Year?
Capping off their best season to date with an NBA Finals victory is the best award the LA Clippers could be given this year, but even if that doesn't end up being the case, the team will receive its fair share of honors.
