At 34, Kawhi Leonard is having one of his best years and has a solid chance at end-of-season awards eligibility.
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Toward the end of a game at Intuit Dome, with the visiting Orlando Magic leading by two points, the ball found its way into Kawhi Leonard’s hands. The LA Clippers All-Star felt the defense doubling him with the clock winding down, and instead of forcing a shot, he found recent trade acquisition Bennedict Mathurin.
It was the right play, and Leonard raised his arm in pre-celebration, but Mathurin’s 3-point shot was too long. As Mathurin got to his feet, Leonard was there to greet him, smiling.
The gesture wasn’t lost on Leonard’s teammates.
“They understand he’s a Hall of Famer,” Clippers guard Kris Dunn told The Athletic of Leonard. “The first thing (Leonard) told (Mathurin) was, ‘Yo, you’re good! This is part of your growth.’ And to see something like that from a Hall of Famer, somebody who’s playing at an exceptional level this year, to be able to give Benn that type of confidence to let him know don’t worry about it, that shot is gonna come again, you’ll be prepared … I thought it was major.
“And that shows the step right there. Like, OK, he’s taking another step in the leadership role.”
Leonard’s growth as a leader has come in a Clippers season that has seen some extreme highs and lows. Before the Clippers even played a game, Leonard and the team became embroiled in a cap-circumvention scandal that still has the franchise under NBA investigation.
Then the Clippers started playing and lost 19 of 22 games, and at one point early in the season, they dropped to 6-21. Leonard was part of the oldest roster in the league, and an underachieving one at that.
But three things turned around. Leonard started a career-long streak of scoring at least 20 points in a game in late November that was extended to a single-season, franchise-record 49 consecutive games after he scored 27 points in a 119-94 win Wednesday against the Toronto Raptors. The Clippers are now 37-36, continuing a historic turnaround that has them as the first team in NBA history to fall 15 games under .500 and still get over .500 later in the same season.
And they’ve done it with the 34-year-old Leonard still here after the season-ending hip injury to 32-year-old Bradley Beal, the dismissal of 40-year-old franchise legend Chris Paul and the trades of 36-year-old All-NBA point guard James Harden and All-Defense center Ivica Zubac. Those deals returned younger talent in point guard Darius Garland and Mathurin.
“I think this year, the difference is, with James and Zu being gone, he understands that he has to speak up a little bit more,” Dunn said of Leonard. “We got a lot of young guys that are playing, and he’s been doing a phenomenal job with it. He’s speaking a lot more. As everybody knows, he’s a quiet person. But at the same time, he is not. It’s just moments, you know what I mean? … One of his best (pieces of) advice that I think anybody can take from him is slow as pro, and that’s as clean as it can get.”
“He’s vocal,” Clippers veteran Nicolas Batum told The Athletic of Leonard. “I mean, not the most (vocal teammate) I’ve ever had, but he is vocal, though. And when we say lead by example, that’s pretty much what it is, though. … You can trust him; he won’t do any mistakes, fights, no matter what. That’s what you need from him.”
The Clippers are now in a position where they are trying to secure a playoff spot and get to 42 wins, which would extend the league’s longest active streak of winning seasons to 15 years. Leonard has certainly led by example with a career-best 28.3 points per game and his most steals per game (2.0) in 11 years, excluding his nine-game final season with the San Antonio Spurs. He’s never made more 3s in a season than this one.
Leonard’s health has put him in a tricky spot. He has already missed 16 games this season, with 10 coming in November. For Leonard to be eligible for MVP voting or an All-NBA spot, he has to play in at least eight of the remaining nine Clippers games.
Leonard is a two-time NBA Finals MVP, but he has not received a regular-season MVP vote since 2021, and he hasn’t been higher than fifth since 2017. He is a six-time All-NBA selection, but he has missed out on that honor in three of the last four seasons. Leonard is a two-time Defensive Player of the Year and a seven-time All-Defense selection, but he hasn’t been on an All-Defensive Team since 2021.
He would like to change that.
“They’re individual honors, and everybody’s putting the work in around the league to try to be All-NBA, All-Defensive Team, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved and MVP,” Leonard said. “So, when you’re able to get one of those accolades, you know your hard work paid off in a sense.”
When the current 65-game benchmark for award eligibility was introduced in 2023, Leonard was not amused by the narrative that suggested the limit would impact load management. “No league policy is helping me to play more games,” Leonard said in October 2023. Now, that same policy is relevant to Leonard’s end-of-season endeavors and has already eliminated worthy candidates.
“It’s great for the league trying to, I guess, stop people just from sitting,” Leonard said when asked about whether his thoughts on the 65-game rule have changed. “But like I said before, I don’t think that rule is changing to play if they’re really hurt, you know what I mean? I don’t think it makes sense to just try to go through a game if you’re in any pain. It’s something that you’re trying to keep under control. It just is what it is, you know? The healthiest guys play. That’s just how the ball rolls.”
Leonard has indeed continued to play, even though he has been listed as questionable quite often this season while managing sprains to both ankles. Whether it’s playing through injury, playing with joy or playing with the necessary effectiveness for the Clippers to be competitive, Leonard’s teammates have appreciated him and his presence.
“It’s great to have this guy on the team,” Mathurin told The Athletic. “The way he’s been playing motivated a lot of guys on the team to do the right thing. Seeing how hard he works, the work speaks for itself. … I think he’s first-team All-NBA. He’s All-Defensive Team. He’s averaging two steals a game. He takes the hard matchups every game. It’s great to be a part of his history and (be) along the journey.”
Clippers rookie Kobe Sanders said Leonard has stressed that “the game is your time to get better.”
“He likes to put things in action and learn on the fly and really try to implement everything he works on straight into the game. So, that’s one thing,” Sanders said. “He’s basically instilled us all with confidence. If you work on it, implement it right into the game, because that’s your time to get better.”
Many believed the changes to the Clippers would lead to Leonard leaving the franchise soon, too. His words about the state of the Clippers as contenders have been misinterpreted often. But Leonard is motivated to win, both for his team and for himself. There is a level of pride that Leonard is taking in this unique season, one that is allowing him to show a more assertive side of himself while having fun doing it.
“They’re doing it themselves; it’s between their ears,” Leonard said. “This group likes to play basketball. They love to have fun out there and compete. And we’re not scared of nobody, even if they’re more talented or the record’s better. We still wanna go out and compete and try to have pride in playing and being competitive out there.
“It’s a lot of young guys, guys that’s getting a lot of minutes in different roles this year that are stepping up. You just gotta just tell them to enjoy the moment, even at times when we’re down or the calls ain’t going our way. It’s just basketball at the end of the day. … So, just keep one foot in front of the other and just play and have fun.”
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Law Murray is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the NBA, based in Los Angeles. Law joined The Athletic in 2021 as a Clippers beat writer. Prior to joining The Athletic, he was an NBA editor at ESPN, a researcher at NFL Media and a contributor to DrewLeague.com and ClipperBlog. Law is from Philadelphia, Pa., and is a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California. When not playing basketball, Law is probably discussing the next Saturday Night Live episode. Follow Law on Twitter @LawMurrayTheNU
