Clippers star Kawhi Leonard opened up about his limited usage amidst the team's rough start.
The Los Angeles Clippers have reached plenty of new lows amidst their 5-15 start to the season, but Saturday’s 114-110 loss to a Dallas Mavericks team that was short of essentially every star player besides 19-year-old reigning No. 1 overall pick Cooper Flagg. It didn’t really matter, as Flagg torched the Clips for 35 points anyway with two years before legal adulthood.
The Clippers, led by a star in Kawhi Leonard who, for years before this, has been known as a consummate winner (when he can find his way on the floor), are now tracking toward one of the worst seasons for a team led by a player that’s supposedly one of the 75 best in NBA history. Not to mention, he’s joined by two other players on that list in James Harden and Chris Paul.
Regardless, it goes without saying that the Clippers’ roster is not comprised of a winning combination of players. No matter what their credentials are. That was as apparent against the shorthanded Mavericks as it has been in their 14 other setbacks this season. With Kawhi Leonard still on a 29-minute-per-game restriction, it’s hard to see a turnaround in sight.
Still, Leonard doesn’t believe it’s his minutes restriction that’s holding the Clippers back this season. “It doesn't matter about that,” Leonard said. “They're missing their star players, and we can't get a win. We gotta do it collectively, like I said before, it's all 15 (guys) … If we're trying to win a championship, we need everybody. It's not about the minutes played or any of that. We're up in these games, we should be able to close it out.”
Despite the Clippers’ abysmal start to the season, Leonard isn’t ready to count his team completely out of it just yet. Although he didn’t sound all that convincing.
“We've got 62 games left,” Leonard said. “We've just got to be better in the last three-fourths of the season, and see what we can do … When we lose, it feels like they executed the game plan better. We've got to do our job and execute the game plan on our end. We've got to worry about winning the game right now first before we think about any type of championship.”
The Clippers’ opportunity to get that win comes at 7:30 EST/4:30 PST against the Miami Heat at the Kaseya Center in Miami on Monday.