Getty Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green of the Toronto Raptors.
Kawhi Leonard is one of the most skilled scorers and defenders in today’s NBA game.
In his first season with the Los Angeles Clippers, Leonard is averaging 27 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game for the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Clippers and Los Angeles Lakers will duel it out on Sunday in a make up game that was postponed after the tragic helicopter crash and death of Lakers icon Kobe Bryant that also claimed the life of Bryant’s daughter, Gigi and seven other passengers onboard.
While there are a few days until Sunday, here’s the million dollar question: How do the Lakers stop Kawhi Leoard?
“We all know his strengths,” Lakers guard, Danny Green,Leonard’s former Raptors teammate told me.
“We all know what he can do. Try to limit him as much as possible to not let him get to his spots and get comfortable in his rhythm. Do that and offensively make him work, put him in some screen-and-rolls out on the floor, space and have some good movement.”
It was believed by many that Kawhi Leonard would leave the Toronto Raptors and join the Clippers. “I mean if he leaves, my expectation is simply that’s where he’d go,” Bleacher Report’s Ric Bucher told me on the Scoop B Radio Podcast last spring.
The Clippers were already stacked with a roster who’s best player didn’t even start in combo guard, Lou Williams. The Clippers went toe-to-toe with the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Playoffs and impressed a National television audience with the gritty play of point guard Patrick Beverly and Montrezl Harrell.“He’s looking at these bombers and he’s looking at a team that from the get go will be built around him and he’s going to be where he wants to be,” Rich Bucher also told Scoop B Radio.
“He’s going to be the centerpiece as much as Toronto has catered to him, it’s a little bit, again, it’s like the uniqueness of LeBron going to Dwyane Wade and joining Dwyane Wade in Miami.”
Well, Leonard did just that.
“I think the Clippers are one of the best watches in the NBA,” ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne told the Scoop B Radio Podcast.
They sure are!
Sitting in third place in the NBA’s Western Conference, the Clippers have a 41-19 record.
Guided by Clippers head coach, Doc Rivers, LA’s other exciting team is chock full of veterans like Landry Shamet, Ivica Zubac, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, Rodney McGruder and JaMychal Green.