The new year is upon us, and Kawhi Leonard has a hilarious resolution for his Los Angeles Clippers co-star James Harden. Leonard’s resolution was played on the jumbotron during the Clippers’ 118-101 win over the Utah Jazz at the Intuit Dome on Thursday, and it was quite hilarious.
“Happy New Year,” Leonard said. “And I have a New Year’s resolution for my teammate James Harden. I want to see if he could eat food without getting it in his beard all year.”
Kawhi Leonard has a New Year’s resolution for James Harden:
“Eat food without getting it in his beard all year.” pic.twitter.com/7BQKpLkbNH
— Joey Linn (@joeylinn_) January 2, 2026
The crowd broke into cheers, and this is a difficult resolution for “The Beard.” Chances are that Harden will fail fairly quickly. Something along these lines might not have gotten much of a reaction out of the crowd just a couple of weeks ago, but the mood is changing in the Intuit Dome.
The Clippers had fallen to 6-21 following a 122-101 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Dec. 18 and were arguably the biggest disappointment in the NBA at the time. They had lost 10 of their last 11 games, and the season looked like a lost cause.
The Los Angeles Lakers were the Clippers’ next opponents, and head coach Tyronn Lue stated pregame that he told his team the goal should be to go 35-20 or better the rest of the way. It seemed absurd with how bad the situation was, but they are shockingly well on pace to do it.
The Clippers have gone 6-0 since, and every single win has been by double digits. They have been blowing teams away, and Leonard is a big reason why. The Aspiration scandal and a 10-game absence in November due to an ankle sprain had led to his stock being lower than ever, and it’s now rising rapidly.
Leonard has averaged 39.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.5 blocks per game during this winning streak while shooting 53.2% from the field and 44.1% from beyond the arc. The 34-year-old has been ridiculously good.
The highlight during this run was Leonard’s 55-point explosion against the Detroit Pistons, who have the best record in the East at 25-9. That was a new career-high for the six-time All-Star, and he’s playing as well as he ever has.
In this latest game against the Jazz, the Clippers looked to be in danger of suffering an embarrassing defeat as they had blown a 21-point lead. A devastating fourth quarter from Leonard ensured that wouldn’t happen. He had 20 points in the fourth, matching the Jazz’s tally for the period as a team.
Leonard finished with 45 points (16-29 FG), seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks against the Jazz. Teams just have no answer for him at the moment.
Leonard’s dominance has allowed Harden to take a backseat. The 36-year-old had taken on a huge workload at the start of the season, and that was far from ideal at his age.
Harden can now be the secondary scorer and the primary playmaker, which is the ideal role for him now. The 11-time All-Star had 20 points (5-14 FG), three rebounds, and seven assists against the Jazz.
For all the Clippers’ recent success, they still have a pretty poor 12-21 record, thanks to the hole they dug themselves in. Getting out of it and securing a guaranteed playoff berth is going to be extremely difficult, but a spot in the play-in tournament is within reach now.
The Clippers take on the Boston Celtics next at the Intuit Dome on Saturday at 10:30 PM ET.
