Zach Lowe Believes Kawhi Leonard-Led Clippers Know ‘Exactly What They Are’

Kawhi Leonard will have a few final chances to try and bring a championship to the Los Angeles Clippers.

Zach Lowe Believes Kawhi Leonard-Led Clippers Know ‘Exactly What They Are’

James Harden and Kawhi Leonard (FS Image)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Kawhi Leonard had a sort of bullet-proof aura to him when he signed with the Clippers as a free agent in 2019. The southern California-born swingman had led the Toronto Raptors to their only championship and won an entire country as his fanbase while playing with an injury for most of his playoff run. Many LA basketball fans believed that Kawhi Leonard would be the guy who would break the curse for the Clippers.

But as things have turned out, the Steve Ballmer-led organization have caught more unlucky breaks than most NBA teams in the six years since. They have only had him available and healthy for two of their six playoff appearances in the interim. Before the 2025 playoffs, Kawhi Leonard had only one playoff run with no injury niggles – the Disneyworld bubble in Orlando during the Covid-19 era.

Leonard got injured in the 2021 playoffs, suffering an ACL tear that put him out of the running for the following year. After a relatively healthy return to form in 22-23, he injured his knee once again during the 2023 playoffs after leading the Clippers to a win in Game 1 against the Phoenix Suns. The Klaw suffered a similar fate in the 2023-24 season after a season that saw him earn a Second Team All-NBA berth.

The Clippers did their best to manage his load in 2024-25, which saw him play in all seven of their playoff games. But it’s clear that he’s not the player he used to be in 2017 or 2019. So they’ve brought in reinforcements to ease the offensive load on him. Adding Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, John Collins and Chris Paul to the mix makes the Clippers of the 2025-26 season the deepest team they’ve ever had on paper.

According to The Ringer analyst Zach Lowe, however, the team and its newest members know their hard ceiling for this year:

I don’t think anyone with the Clippers has any illusions about what they are. They probably think ‘We are a really, really good team that slots in fourth in the West at best’.

Zach Lowe then went on to describe the changes that the Clippers have made with their 2024-25 roster:

Out goes Ben Simmons, Norman Powell, Amir Coffey, Drew Eubanks, Jordan Miller. In comes Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal, John Collins, Chris Paul. They’re undeniably better than the team that was last year. They have 11 guys who can really play. They’re gonna need all 11 to get through the regular season.

Zach Lowe points out how Chris Paul and co currently think alongside Kawhi Leonard

Zach Lowe tried to take a look inside the mind of how the likes of Brook Lopez, Bradley Beal and Chris Paul would be thinking after joining the Clippers. According to him, all of these players know the limitations of the squad and would have to carry the load when their top stars, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard, can’t get it done by themselves:

James Harden signs new 2-year, $81.5 million deal
James Harden (Image via FirstSportz)

And I think the idea of the team is like ‘Look. We know the issue with our top two guys – Harden’s playing big games, Kawhi’s availability etc. We know how good those other three teams are. All we can do with the resources that we have and the money we’ve committed to these two older veterans at the center of the team is put ourselves in the best position possible to pounce.’

The Clippers have the ability to bench both of their franchise stars and still go on a winning streak this year. James Harden, who’s always been available for the most part, will be able to focus more on scoring when he shares the floor with Chris Paul, and will be more of a playmaker alongside Bradley Beal. The rest of the team will need to step up its act for the Clippers to be seen as true contenders this year.

Also Read: