Looking at the Clippers tenure of Kawhi Leonard.
The Kawhi Leonard era for the Los Angeles Clippers is all but over as the team has an agreement in place to trade him to the Toronto Raptors.
The deal has not become official as alll parties wait for the NBA to wrap its investigation on the Clippers, owner Steve Ballmer, and Kawhi into allegations of salary cap circumvention.
Kawhi signed with the Clippers in the 2019 offseason, fresh off an NBA Championship and Finals MVP with the Raptors. The signing brought new hope to Los Angeles one year after the Lakers added LeBron James.
In seven years with the Clippers, the team made one Western Conference Finals appearance, but failed to get out of the first round in the last five years.
A Successful Tenure?
Though Kawhi brought new excitement to the Clippers organization, it’s nearly impossible to call his tenure a success.
Signing Kawhi was a success, but it came at a price. Not just in the contract he signed, but in acquiring Paul George, as Kawhi wanted to play with a second superstar.
You know the story by now. Not only did the Clippers give up a treasure trove of draft picks, but they gave up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the trade. SGA has gone on to win two MVPs and an NBA championship during the Kawhi-Clippers era.
Even taking out the Paul George trade aspect of bringing in Kawhi and how successful SGA and the Oklahoma City Thunder have become, and just looking at what the Clippers accomplished, his run can’t be looked at as a success because they fell short of expectations.
What Would’ve Been A Success?
Obviously, a championship would’ve made his run a complete success, even if every other season ended without a single playoff victory.
The team got past the first round once, both of which came in the first two seasons, and he wasn’t even part of the team that made the Conference Finals, as he was injured in the second round.
The Clippers also spent a lot of assets in acquiring other stars like George, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Norman Powell, and more, thinking their window was open as long as Kawhi was still on the team.
Had they made multiple Conference Finals and at least one Finals appearance, we’d probably view his run as a success because of the lack of success the franchise had had before Kawhi joined the team.
