Our player preview series for the 2024 Clippers season continues with Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers’ best player player.
Basic Information
Height: 6’7″
Weight: 225 pounds
Position: Small Forward
Age: 32
Years in NBA: 13
Key stats: 23.8 points, 6.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.4 steals per game on 51.2/41.6/87.1 shooting splits across 52 games.
Contract Status: Third year of a four-year $176,265,152 contract worth $45,640,084 this season.
Expectations
There’s really only one major expectation from Clippers Nation this season regarding Kawhi Leonard, and that’s to stay healthy. For the most part, Leonard was able to do just that last season, the playoffs notwithstanding. The Clippers did their part in managing his minutes and games he played. Sure there were some hiccups along the way, but by and large Kawhi responded with a phenomenal bounce back after missing the entirety of the 2021-22 season.
The Clippers will likely load manage Kawhi Leonard again in 2024, and contrary to popular belief, the Clippers will not be penalized under the NBA’s new resting policy as long as Kawhi’s absences aren’t coinciding with rest for Paul George.
Strengths
When healthy, Leonard is absolutely one of the best players in the league. There’s not much he can’t do on the court. He’s a dominant scoring threat from anywhere. He’s perfected the art of the midrange jumper, but he’s also a great three-point shooter who shot the second-highest percentage in his career from distance last season.
Leonard definitely prefers the face-up and the pull-up jumper, but he can still get to the basket and he did average 5.4 attempts from the free-throw line last season.
He’s even become a fantastic playmaker, and he’s averaged a career-highs in assists throughout his Clippers tenure.
Defensively, he may not be the absolute lockdown defender he once was when he was younger, but he still has the chops on that end. One of his best defensive plays of the season came in Game 1 in the first round of the playoffs against the Phoenix Suns when Leonard effortlessly ripped the ball from Kevin Durant and ran the break himself for an easy finish.
Weaknesses
Availability and health, that’s what the majority of Clippers fans would agree is Leonard’s pressing weakness at the moment. He’s only had one fully healthy complete season and playoff run with the Clippers, and that was the 2019-2020 season that ended in the bubble.
In 2020-21, Leonard suffered an ACL injury in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Utah Jazz that cut his playoff run short. He missed the entire 2021-22 season recovering from said injury. Last year, it was a knee injury following Game 2 against the Suns that sidelined him. Those injuries have been perhaps the reason the Clippers haven’t had more success in the 213 era.
Summary
This will be a key season for Leonard and the Clippers. After this year. they’ll be moving to the new Intuit Dome and Leonard will be able to decline his player option and become a free agent.
Despite the overall lack of availability, there’s always been reason for optimism for Clippers fans when it comes to Leonard. The Clippers looked every bit the part of championship contenders in 2021 before he got hurt against the Jazz. Last season, even without Paul George, with Leonard in the lineup the Clippers looked like they could have beaten the Suns.
Leonard’s presence raises the ceiling of this team in ways few other players can. The Clippers just need a little luck to bounce their way.
