Kawhi Leonard stated the obvious on Thursday night. It’s just not the kind of obvious we’re used to hearing from NBA stars.
Following the Clippers’ 115-114 win over the Denver Nuggets on Thursday, Leonard was asked about the Clippers reaching contender status with a younger core following the NBA trade deadline. He responded by emphasizing the importance of developing young players, but three words early on stood out: “It’s over now.”
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The full exchange:
Question: “You mentioned you guys having a younger team and obviously younger guys still trying to find their way and that being part of why you guys aren’t quite in that contender tier. What do you think you guys need to do in order to break into that tier? Is it here, is it guys developing, or is there something missing?”
Leonard: “Just development over time. I think it’s over now. It’s, the second half, like a fourth of the season left. But every day is a day to grow. A day to learn and get better. So just got to keep looking over time and see in two weeks if we’re getting better and see what happens from there.”
Unless Leonard misspoke, that sure sounds like him saying the Clippers’ title chances are likely dead this season. Which, again, isn’t the wildest take, unless it’s coming from the team’s franchise star.
Following Thursday’s win, the Clippers’ record sits at 27-28, ninth place in the Western Conference and a spot in the play-in game. Eighth place might not be hard to achieve given the injury woes of the Golden State Warriors, but anything above that would require a lot of things to go right.
Is it too late for Kawhi Leonard the Clippers to be taken seriously? (AP Photo/Kyusung Gong)
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James Harden is gone. Ivica Zubac is gone. The trades that sent away those two both returned interesting young players in Darius Garland (who still hasn’t made his Clippers debut) and Bennedict Mathurin, respectively, but expectations are going to be low as the team reworks its core.
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To Los Angeles’ credit, the team has come a long way after looking dead in the water when it began the season with a 6-21 record. The Clippers actually have the best win percentage in the NBA since that 27th game on Dec. 18, with a 21-7 record. Leonard has played some of the best basketball of his career in that time, with 29.8 points, 6.87 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.1 steals per game, plus his usual defensive impact.
However, there is still a long way to go before the Clippers are taken seriously.
