Kawhi Leonard, Clippers were healthy and still couldn't get past first round. Now what?

New York Times

04-05-2025

INGLEWOOD, Calif. – Knock on wood.
That has been the reaction any time the topic of health was brought up around the LA Clippers in prosperous times. After all, Tyronn Lue's first four seasons as head coach of the Clippers all ended in unfortunate injury luck. Kawhi Leonard was unable to play in the elimination game in any of them, and former co-star Paul George was unavailable in the final game of the 2022 Play-In Tournament and the entire 2023 postseason.
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When the Clippers were in the middle of an eight-game winning streak to end the regular season that gave them the fifth seed in this year's playoffs, Lue was asked about having a fully healthy roster heading into the postseason.
'Yeah, it means a lot,' Lue said, tapping his knuckles repeatedly on the news conference table simultaneously. 'Just starting to play our best basketball. The season's wrapping up, our guys are healthy, in a good place, feeling good. And that's the most important thing. When you get to the playoffs, the most important thing is health.'
Lue got his wish. The Clippers were healthy for the first time in years. But having a healthy James Harden and Leonard wasn't enough as the Clippers fell to the Nuggets 120-101 in Saturday's Game 7. The Clippers lost three of the last four games of the series, and Harden did not meet with the media after any of those losses. It's a surprising turn of events for a Clippers team that, a little more than a week earlier, was a minute away from a 3-1 series lead.
'It's encouraging,' Lue said after the season ended Saturday night. 'I think James having to carry such a heavy load with Kawhi missing 45 games and just having to carry that load all season long, he did a great job with that. And I think Kawhi, coming back and having the confidence in his knee that he can play more minutes, he can get through these games. And those two together for a whole season, I think, would be tremendous. So when you have your best player missing (45 games), it's kind of hard to really jell the way we wanted to. But I thought we did a good job of just sticking with it. And whatever we needed to do to win that night, they did it.'
Now the inaugural season at Intuit Dome is in the books after a first-round series that reinforced the fact that the Clippers likely have a hard ceiling as long as their best players are Harden and Leonard, two aging stars who are far closer to the end of their careers than the beginning.
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The Clippers won 50 games this season and were still a factor in the Western Conference, but this campaign was part of an organizational plan to bridge into what is next for the franchise. Their public statement after George left to sign a maximum contract with the Philadelphia 76ers last summer declared that much.
'We will miss Paul. At the same time, we're excited by the opportunities we've now been afforded, including greater flexibility under the new CBA. Kawhi is an All-NBA player, and we believe T. Lue is the best coach in the league. We will field a highly competitive team this season, and moving forward, use our organizational advantages to bring top talent to Intuit Dome.'
As of now, though, it seems clear that the next stage, at least in the short term, will be centered around Harden and Leonard.
The Clippers are below the collective bargaining agreement's first-apron threshold and intend to remain flexible with an eye toward the next two offseasons, according to league sources. The first domino toward that is what happens with Harden, who has a player option worth $36.4 million for next season.
Harden will be 36 in August, and he has enjoyed his time playing in his hometown since being brought in via an October 2023 trade. 'Hopefully I'm here for some years and retire here, so I can keep moving the needle off the court,' he said in 2024.
How the Clippers retain Harden is to be determined, but he is fully expected to be back in some capacity after being named an All-Star and making the playoffs for the 16th straight year.
There's a history of Harden sacrificing financially; in 2022, he declined a $47.4-million player option with the 76ers and signed a two-year deal that gave him a $35.6-million player option for the 2023-24 season so Philadelphia could sign free agents like P.J. Tucker and Danuel House Jr.
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This season, Harden reiterated that the chemistry the Clippers built with him as the primary facilitator should progress next year, using Most Improved Player Award runner-up Ivica Zubac as an example.
'It's only been, what, almost two years?' Harden said last month while describing Zubac's progress compared to former Rockets teammate center Clint Capela. 'What I did with Clint, it was five, six years. And Zu is way more skilled offensively than Clint, you know what I mean? But the understanding of knowing what to do, each possession, whether it's a switch, whether it's a pick-and-roll… that right there is just like, chemistry that you just need time to build.
'And next year is going to be even better, to where it's like, it's gonna be flawless.'
Harden's star running mate, Leonard, just played the first season of a three-year contract extension signed in January 2024 that goes through the 2026-27 season. He began sidelined to manage the right knee inflammation that ruined not only the final run with George last postseason, but also cost Leonard an Olympic gold medal.
Before the All-Star break, Leonard averaged 16.3 points in 26 minutes per game. After the All-Star break, Leonard leapt to 25 points in 35.9 minutes per game. In March, he made it clear what his objective was going into the second year of that deal.
'My goal is to be healthy at the end of the season, so I can have a good summer, not worry about doing the whole rehab process again or missing a training camp,' Leonard said after his overtime buzzer-beater to beat the Sacramento Kings on March 9.
That summer came earlier than Leonard had hoped. The series against the Nuggets was an opportunity for Leonard and Harden to re-establish some dominance in the postseason after the Clippers won 18 of their last 21 regular-season games and didn't lose back-to-back games for eight weeks.
That re-established dominance didn't happen.
To at least begin next season, the Clippers appear to be in a place of stability with the rotation of a team that surprised many by getting to 50 wins.
Zubac, Norman Powell, Derrick Jones Jr., Kris Dunn and Bogdan Bogdanović are all signed for 2025-26. Powell, the team's second-leading scorer with a career-high 21.8 points per game, who was a surprising dark-horse All-Star candidate, is entering the final year of a contract that will pay him $20.5 million in 2025-26 and turns 32 this month. But there should be no rush to do something with Powell, especially considering Harden's age and Leonard's durability concerns.
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Batum is 36 years old and has a player option for $4.9 million, but he is highly valued by the Clippers and is expected to return; the Frenchman has a stated goal of passing former All-Star Peja Stojaković for second-most 3s by a European player, and Batum needs 11 more 3s to do so.
The most notable free agents are Ben Simmons and Amir Coffey; Simmons' minutes faded as the Nuggets series went along after being the team's buyout market target, while Coffey was the odd man out of a nine-man rotation in the playoffs.
Then there's Lue.
Last May, the Clippers gave Lue a contract extension that goes through the 2029 season, and despite the early exit, relationships are strong among the brain trust of Lue, Clippers chairman Steve Ballmer and president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank.
But Lue no longer has the excuse of his Clippers playoff teams never being healthy. They were, and still are, one of six teams in the West not to win a playoff series since 2021. This was the first time Lue lost a Game 7 after starting his head-coaching career 4-0 in such spots, and the second year in a row where the season ended on Lue's birthday.
Lue was recently asked why anyone would want to be a head coach after Denver fired head coach Michael Malone last month and joked that the job 'pays well.' But his perspective was telling.
'It's a tough business – it's a fun business, as long as you're winning,' Lue said last month. 'Just speaking for myself, just having a great relationship with the front office with Lawrence and (general manager) Trent (Redden), and (senior vice president) Mark (Hughes), and with our owner Mr. Ballmer. That goes a long way. It still doesn't mean that they won't make the right decision. But just having that constant dialogue, talking and understanding what each side wants and what they need and just having that relationship is really good.'
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Lue pushed several correct buttons this season, one of the most important being the selection of Jeff Van Gundy as the team's de facto defensive coordinator. Lue has the respect of his stars, and the Clippers admire stable organizations that don't go about replacing coaches every two years. As disappointing as this postseason result is, Lue is seen as part of the franchise's solution, not part of a problem.
The Clippers might optimize the margins of the roster going into next season. Like the 2019 offseason that led to the Clippers getting Leonard in the first place, the team might look toward 2026 when it comes to identifying the next faces of the franchise. In terms of the next championship window, that's the most sensible timeframe.
Under Ballmer, and with 14 consecutive winning seasons, the Clippers won't tank or blow it up, and they're not in a position to do so anyway with their draft assets depleted and their Southern California-based stars not in a position to command a high return in the trade market.
The challenge for the franchise will simply be maintaining its level of competitive achievement while being ready to make the best move for the future. And for now, that means continuing to build around Harden and Leonard.
'I mean, I don't know right now,' Leonard said Saturday night when asked about growing from this season. 'I guess we stayed playing at a high level, in a sense. But yeah, it's a hard question to answer right now.'
(Top photo of Kawhi Leonard: Ronald Martinez / Getty Images)