Player Review: Kawhi Leonard's MVP-Caliber Season
It's been five days since the NBA season was officially suspended, and moving forward, it's looking less and less likely that it'll ever return. As it stands, the best-case scenario is that we finish the 2019-2020 campaign sometime in July or August, which would ultimately shorten the 2020-2021 season as well.
With that said, it seems like a good time to start reflecting on the L.A. Clippers' season and the individual players that made it such a great one.
We'll be reviewing each player in the coming weeks, but for now, it would be impossible to start with anyone other than Kawhi Leonard.
Beginnings
Leonard joined the team in July 2019, just a few days after free agency began. Fresh off a career-year with the Toronto Raptors in which he won his NBA Championship and Finals MVP, Leonard was the most coveted free agent on the market.
He was pursued by the Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers and Raptors, and after hearing pitches from all three teams, he chose L.A. There, Leonard would be joining a team that had gone 48-34 in a crowded Western Conference and pushed the Golden State Warriors to six games in the postseason without an All-Star on the roster.
The Clippers were practically built for Leonard. Small forward had long been the team's weakest position, and with solid role players at every other, Leonard would immediately become their star player.
L.A. also added Paul George per Leonard's request, giving him another All-Star to lean on when need be. Together, the two formed what was hyped up to be the NBA's best two-way duo going into the regular season.
Performance
Leonard's Clippers career got off to an excellent start, posting 30 points, six rebounds and five assists in his debut performance against the Los Angeles Lakers. In that game, Leonard flashed some potential as a playmaker, as he hadn't recorded five or more assists in too many games before then.
That turned out to be a major development in Leonard's game this season. In 51 games for the Clippers, Leonard has averaged a career-high 5.0 dimes per contest, a number well above his previous high mark of 3.5 in 2016-2017.
Leonard also recorded six or more assists in 17 games this season, including two 10-assist games — one of which helped him earn his first career triple-double in a comeback win over the Miami Heat.
Scoring-wise, Leonard was terrific. His 26.9 points per game (also a career-high) has him ranked 8th in the league in scoring, ahead of players like Anthony Davis, Devin Booker and LeBron James. From January 10 to February 1, he logged at least 30 points in nine-straight appearances. Leonard was efficient from all ranges as well, shooting 46.9% from the field, 36.6% from three-point range and 88.9% from the free-throw line.
Leonard was a terror for opposing teams on the other end of the floor, playing his usual brand of suffocating defense. The Clippers had him switching onto everybody from point guards to power forwards, and Leonard handled each assignment with ease.
But as we all know, winning is the most important stat to Leonard. And unsurprisingly, the Clippers were at their best with him on the floor.
L.A. went 38-13 in games that Leonard appeared in, compared to 6-7 without him. Additionally, nine of the losses Leonard suffered this season were decided by 10 points or less.
Grade: A
Outlook
After a career-year with the Clippers, it's clear that Leonard is, at the very least, a top-five player in the league. Few others can offer what he does on both ends of the floor, and with an improved ability to facilitate, he's become a much better offensive player than many expected.
Leonard is under contract with the Clippers through the 2021-2022 season, with a player option on the final year. There's a chance that the rest of this season won't be played out, which puts an awful lot of pressure on the franchise to perform well next year so that it can make the best argument to re-sign Leonard if he declines his player option.
But the Clippers currently have no reason to believe Leonard will want to play anywhere else for the foreseeable future. He's back home for the first time since his college days, and as long as there's a competitive team around him, there's a good chance that he'll help deliver the team's first title in franchise history.
