The Los Angeles Clippers are toiling away with both Kawhi Leonard and Paul George sidelined to injury. Los Angeles sits at 19-19 on the season heading into Thursday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns.
While George is expected back here soon, there’s now growing confidence that Leonard could rejoin the Clippers at some point during the 2021-22 campaign.
The NBA Finals MVP underwent off-season surgery to repair a partially torn ACL. At least initially, there was concern he’d miss the entire season.
Now comes this report from Chris Haynes of Yahoo! Sports pretty much throwing that entire idea out the window.
“Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard now ahead of schedule in rehab from a torn ACL with a strong possibility of a return this season,” Haynes reported on TNT ahead of their broadcast of the Clippers-Suns game.
To say that this could be monumental news for the Clippers would be an understatement. When healthy, Leonard is among top-five all-around players in the NBA. That’s not even debatable.
Related: Find out where Kawhi Leonard stands among NBA’s top-50 players
Los Angeles Clippers as NBA Title contenders with Kawhi Leonard
This current iteration of the Clippers is not close to what we’ll see with Leonard and George likely in the mix once the spring comes calling. At least, when Leonard has played during his stint with the Clippers, they are darn near unbeatable. Just look at the splits since the start of the 2019-20 season. It’s insane.
- Los Angeles Clippers record with Kawhi Leonard: 77-32 (.706 winning %)
- Los Angeles Clippers record without Kawhi Leonard: 38-35 (.521 winning %)
Talk about being one of the most valuable players in the NBA.
Leonard’s imminent return will also make the Clippers a much deeper unit with players who are being relied on to score a lot more now taking a step back.
With these veterans filling their usual role, the rotation will look a lot better. After all, some of the underrated Clippers players have performed well this season.
- Reggie Jackson stats: 16.9 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 4.1 APG, 39% shooting
- Marcus Morris stats: 15.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG, 44% shooting, 36% three-point
- Luke Kennard stats: 11.7 PPG, 3.4 RPG, 43% shooting, 44% three-point
- Terance Mann stats: 10.6 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 50% shooting, 40% three-point
None of this means that the Clippers are going to be favorites out west once Kawhi Leonard returns. It’s one of the strongest conferences we’ve seen in some time.
The Clips will have to get past a combination of the Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz. Golden State is returning one of its own stars, too, with Klay Thompson set to make his season debut Sunday. The Suns are the defending Western Conference champs. Meanwhile, Utah continues to play championship basketball with MVP candidate Donovan Mitchell leading the charge.