At 32 years old, Kawhi Leonard remains one of the best players in the game and there is widespread belief in his ability to lead a team to a title. For the Clippers, they are the lucky ones to be on Kawhi’s side, and their recent contract extension will ensure he sticks around for at least the next three years.
“We’re thrilled to continue our relationship with Kawhi. He is an elite player, a terrific partner, and a relentless worker who knows how to win and makes it his first priority,” Clippers president Lawrence Frank said in a statement, via Yahoo Sports. “He elevated our franchise from the moment he arrived. We feel fortunate that Kawhi chose to join the Clippers five years ago and excited to keep building with him.”
Per The Athletic’s Shams Charania, the deal is for a fully guaranteed $152.4 million over three years with no player option, only $8.5 million under the max. Averaging 23.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game as one of the league’s best defenders, Kawhi is certainly worth every penny of his paycheck on the court. Historically, the problem with Kawhi has always been about his availability to stay on the court and show up when his team needs him most.
A Risky Move For The Clips
When healthy, Kawhi is easily a top-five player in the league and we’ve already seen him lead a title team in the past. At full strength, there’s no reason to think he can’t do it again on a Clippers team with Paul George, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook. But when it comes to Leonard, there will always be questions about his durability from game to game. In the past six years, he’s only had a single season where he played in 60 games or more and has played just 193 games total for the Clippers over the past four seasons.
For Kawhi to live up to his contract and fulfill his promise to the Clippers, he’ll have to follow through in April, May, and June to bring the franchise their first-ever NBA championship. Needless to say, the Clippers have everything riding on Kawhi and as he enters the final stage of his prime, the team will be leaning on him more than ever to deliver on the biggest stage.
A Red-Hot Run
Things weren’t looking too great in the aftermath of the Harden trade, but that’s all changed now with the Clippers’ performance through December and January. At 23-13, the Clippers are 4th in the West, only behind the Timberwolves, Thunder, and Denver Nuggets. They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, with wins over the Suns, Pelicans, Heat, Warriors, and Nuggets. For now, it’s still too early to say how long this performance will hold up but it’s showing to be sustainable so far.
At their best, the Clippers are a major title threat and they deserve to be taken seriously, even despite their disappointing past. If Kawhi can just stay healthy and dominant over a long stretch of time, it could be all they need to make a deep run into the playoffs. At the very least, the Clippers can rest a little easier knowing that Kawhi is locked in and secured for at least the next few years.
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