Kawhi Leonard Labels Stephen Curry ‘One of the Greatest’ Ahead of Play-In Clash

Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers will be hosting Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.

Kawhi Leonard Labels Stephen Curry ‘One of the Greatest’ Ahead of Play-In Clash

Stephen Curry and Kawhi Leonard (Image credits - Firstsportz)

In Short
  • Kawhi Leonard praised Stephen Curry as "one of the greatest players" ahead of their Play-In Tournament matchup.
  • The Clippers finished ninth in the Western Conference, while the Warriors ended up tenth.
  • Both teams are looking to secure a postseason spot after inconsistent seasons.

Wednesday night will see the clash between two veterans of the game collide. Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Curry will face each other when the Los Angeles Clippers take on the Golden State Warriors at the Intuit Dome.

The last time the two superstars faced off against each other in a high-octane match was the 2019 NBA Finals between the Toronto Raptors and Warriors. Leonard came out on top in six games in that series and was named as the Finals MVP.

Ahead of the Clippers-Warriors clash, Leonard spoke to the media on facing Curry in the Play-In Tournament.

He’s one of the greatest players to play this game… Even if it’s just a pickup game, just being able to share the floor with a player like that — being coached by Steve Kerr, also playing with Draymond, that unit over there of championship pedigree. It’s a great opportunity. You can’t take it for granted.

Kawhi Leonard in his media scrum

The 2025-26 campaign has been a story of two halves for both sides. The Warriors finished tenth in the Western Conference standings with a 37-45 record, while the Clippers ended their season at ninth place with a 42-40 record. The Clippers came out on top in their head-to-head clashes as they won three of their four games against the Dubs.

The Clippers had a horrific start to the campaign that saw them at the bottom of the standings. They were all over the place in December as they waived off Chris Paul unceremoniously and their record stood at 6-21.

They did bounce back since and have been one of the best teams in the league since the turn of the year. Their turn in form is largely thanks to Kawhi Leonard, who is having one of the best seasons of his career. However, they did trade James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers at the deadline.

Meanwhile, the Warriors had a contrasting campaign compared to the Clippers. While they have been inconsistent for most of the season, they were in contention to finish in the top-six till the end of January. Unfortunately for them, Jimmy Butler suffered an ACL tear and their season went downhill since. To make matters worse, Stephen Curry has missed a significant time as well due to a knee injury.

All eyes will be on the two sides when they take to court in Los Angeles. One of Curry or Leonard will see their postseason hopes end on Wednesday night.

Ty Lue is sick of facing Stephen Curry in the postseason

Clippers head coach Ty Lue has had his fair share of battles against Stephen Curry in the past. During his time as the head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lue faced the 37-year-old in the NBA Finals for three consecutive years in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

While Lue came out on top in 2016 after pulling off a historic comeback from 3-1 down, the next two finals saw them win just one game in both series combined. When speaking to the media on Tuesday, Lue jokingly said that he was “sick” of facing off against Curry in the postseason.

He’s just a guy that can explode. He can score 50 if you’re not careful. He only had 24 last game, but he had nine 3-point attempts. We can’t let him get that many attempts up from the 3-point line. We gotta try to keep him down as much as possible… We gotta be locked in to what we’re trying to do defensively.

Ty Lue said on Stephen Curry

The two sides clashed on the final day of the regular season. The Clippers won the game 115-110. Curry scored 24 points on the night in under 29 minutes of action, but couldn’t help his team get the victory.

Stephen Curry may see more minutes against the Clippers

Since his return from a two-month injury layoff, Curry has been on a minutes restriction. The four-time champion has played just four games since his comeback. In the four games, he has played just 25, 26, 27 and 29 minutes. The Warriors are treading carefully with Curry’s load.

A frustrated Stephen Curry against the Mavs
Stephen Curry (Image via Sergio Rabinal/X)

Heading into the Play-In clash, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr said he thinks Curry can stretch to at least 30 minutes on Wednesday. If the situation demands it then he may play a few more but he revealed that Curry will not play 40 minutes.

The season hangs in balance for both sides. It has been a subpar season for both sides by their lofty standards, but a place in the postseason is still very much on.

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