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Lakers Champion Makes Bold Kawhi Leonard Statement

Can LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard win MVP?
Joey Linn|
Lakers Champion Makes Bold Kawhi Leonard Statement
Lakers Champion Makes Bold Kawhi Leonard Statement

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LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is playing as good as anybody in basketball right now. While Leonard is not scoring at the same volume as other NBA stars, as LA's roster doesn't demand that from him, he is scoring at a level of efficiency the league has never seen:

Slowly climbing up the NBA's MVP ladder, Leonard's dominance along with how dominant the Clippers have been as a team has led to an increase in MVP buzz for the star forward. One of the latest to make that bold prediction is Los Angeles Lakers champion Metta World Peace:

The reason it's still seen as a bold take to have Leonard as an MVP favorite is because of what Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is doing for the defending champions, and what OKC Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is doing for his young team.

With Philadelphia 76ers star Joel Embiid soon to become disqualified from winning the award due to missed games, Jokic and Gilgeous-Alexander have become the two new favorites most places. This is hard to argue against, as Jokic is averaging 26/12/9 on incredible efficiency, and Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 31/7/6 on incredible efficiency - to go along with a league-leading 2.3 steals per game.

The Clippers, Thunder, and Nuggets are all separated by just a half-game in the Western Conference standings, so team success does not heavily favor one candidate over another. All of that being said, if the Clippers remain on this trajectory, and Leonard continues to turn in unprecedented efficiency, there is no way to keep him out of the MVP discussion.

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Joey Linn
JOEY LINN

Joey Linn is a credentialed writer covering the NBA and WNBA for On SI. Covering the LA Clippers independently in 2018, then for Fansided and 213Hoops from 2019-2021, Joey joined On SI to cover the Clippers after the 2020-21 season. Graduating from Biola University in 2022 with a Communication Studies degree, Joey served as Biola's play-by-play announcer for their basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. Joey's work on Biola's broadcasts and in the classroom earned him the Outstanding Communication Studies Student of the year award in 2022. Joey covers the NBA full-time, primarily serving as a Clippers beat writer.

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