It is safe to say we have not seen the best of Kawhi Leonard in this 2023-24 NBA season. The Los Angeles Clippers star has struggled on the court and the numbers he has put up in this campaign actually make it one of the worst of his career.
20.4 PPG (Lowest since 2014, Career Low – 7.9 PPG in 2011-12)
5.5 RPG (Lowest since rookie season, Career Low – 5.1 RPG in 2011-12)
3.4 APG (Lowest since 2019, Career Low – 1.1 APG in 2011-12)
45.7 FG% (Lowest of career)
37.1 3P% (Lowest since 2019, Career Low – 34.9% in 2014-15)
82.5 FT% (Lowest since 2014, Career Low – 77.3% in 2011-12)
56.2 TS% (Lowest of career)
I should make it clear that Leonard’s 2017-18 season, his last as a member of the San Antonio Spurs, has not been considered here. That was when he missed the start of the season, then returned and played nine games before shutting it down for good. He was clearly a shell of himself and probably shouldn’t have played at all.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s look at this 2023-24 season. You’d have expected some drop-off from Leonard as he had to adjust to playing alongside James Harden, but I don’t think anyone thought it’d be this much. What’s especially concerning are his shooting splits.
In recent years, Leonard had built a reputation for being extremely efficient on the court. In just the last two seasons, he had shot 51.2% from the field and last season, he had shot 41.2% from beyond the arc. For the efficiency to plummet the way it has is worrying. Considering his scoring is down, you’d have liked to see him contribute more on the glass, but he isn’t doing that either.
Kawhi Leonard Should Start Playing Better As The Season Goes On
While what we have seen so far isn’t great, I do believe things will get better as the season progresses. I don’t think Leonard has fallen off a cliff, considering we just saw him average 34.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in the playoff series against the Phoenix Suns last season.
Sure, Kawhi tore his right meniscus in that series, but that’s hardly an injury that causes major slippage in a player’s game. The adjustment to having Harden around just seems to be a lot harder for him than for someone like Paul George, who is averaging 25.4 points per game this season, which is his most as a Clipper.
It could very well be that not getting as many touches as he normally would might have disrupted Leonard’s rhythm. The 35-year-old has plenty of time to get accustomed to the change, as they are just 15 games into this season.
I had thought once the Harden trade was made, that the Clippers would really start to take off in the second half of the season. They did not have a training camp and preseason with him, which wasn’t ideal, but the trade was at least made early enough that there was time to figure things out.
If Kawhi is still putting up these numbers when we’re approaching the All-Star break, then it might be time to sound the alarm. Sure, what he is putting up right now are good numbers for most players, but the Clippers are not going to win a championship unless he plays like the superstar that he is supposed to be.
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