Kawhi Leonard has had a complicated season with the Los Angeles Clippers. After the Aspiration scandal and the team falling to 10 games below .500 within the first two months of the season, many panicked about the team’s future. However, Leonard proceeded to have the best production year of his career and led the Clippers to a 38-36 record right now, with a Play-In Tournament spot likely secured.
Leonard also saw his team go through a midseason overhaul, swapping out starters James Harden and Ivica Zubac for Darius Garland and Bennedict Mathurin. Mathurin is already loving life on the Clippers, and Leonard and Garland’s impact is coming through on the court.
Garland has averaged 21.8 points and 6.7 assists in 12 games with the Clippers, as the team has a 9-3 record in these games. Clippers forward Nicolas Batum appeared on the ‘Old Man and the Three’ podcast and spoke highly of Garland’s addition to the Clippers, claiming that head coach Tyronn Lue is using the Garland-Leonard duo similar to how he used the Kyrie Irving and LeBron James duo that led him to the 2016 NBA Championship.
“T-Lue wants to use him like he used Kyrie on the Cavs. Different type of player, but DG and Kawhi are like Kyrie and LeBron, in terms of how they were used on the Cavs 10 years ago. He loves it. It’s been great for us. Kawhi’s been okay with it, like, ‘you’re the point guard, you have the ball, and I’m going to play off of you.’ Then sometimes, yeah, ‘I need to get the ball because I’m going to take over this game.’ But yeah, it’s been amazing for us.”
“He’s a two-time All-Star, 25-26 years old, No. 1 seed in the NBA last year as a starting point guard. DG is a different type of player, where you know we have someone who’s gonna be legit for us. And he’s been legit for us. The numbers are less than James, maybe, but the impact, the pace he brings, everything is different.”
Batum’s comparison might be about styles and the synergy between the point guard and small forward on the court, but it’s a bit of a reaching example. Irving and James are arguably one of the greatest duos on the fast-break in NBA history. While Garland is also great on the fast-break, 34-year-old Leonard plays a slower style of on-ball basketball than 33-year-old James did in the 2015-16 NBA season.
Similarly, Garland has an impressive scoring package as a fast on-ball guard, but Irving’s skills are considered to be the greatest of all time in his position. While there are stylistic similarities, it’s hard to imagine Leonard and Garland having the level of success James and Irving did at that point in their careers.
The Clippers have changed their offensive philosophy midseason, as Batum discussed, to ensure Garland can maximize his impact on the court. The 26-year-old can’t run a half-court offense like Harden could, but he’s much more active both on and off-ball, being able to adjust well in possessions where Leonard or someone else is the prime focus.
James averaged 25.3 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 6.8 assists in 2015-16, while Irving averaged 19.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 4.7 assists. If anyone can come close to replicating that impact on a new team, it’ll be coach Lue, given how he maximized that duo on the Cavaliers. He’s already getting better counting stats from Leonard and Garland, and they do share a close resemblance in style of play to what we remember of James and Irving on the Cavaliers.
