The Los Angeles Clippers are one of the most interesting teams this 2025-26 season. Entering the season with plenty of bad press due to the ongoing investigation, they didn't help themselves at all when they got off to a 6-21 start. While the season may have looked lost, that didn't discourage the Clippers, as that marked the start of their turnaround.

Since December 20th, the Clippers have gone 8-2, with their most recent result being a win over the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night. The Clippers are certainly trending up now, and the play of stars like Kawhi Leonard and James Harden is playing a part in it. However, a team can't be successful with just two players, and there's one surprise rookie who has been making his impact known.

The Clippers have two rookies on their roster, both of whom were drafted in the 2025 NBA Draft. The first is Yanic Konan Niederhauser, their first-round pick, who has shown flashes, but has both Ivica Zubac and Brook Lopez ahead of him in the rotation, making his opportunities minimal. The other is second-round pick Kobe Sanders, who has stood out.

Sanders didn't play in Summer League for the Clippers, and first burst onto the scene in the final preseason game, scoring 25 points against the Golden State Warriors. He still wasn't featured much in the rotation at the beginning of the season, until he was given 25 minutes in the team's 130-116 loss.

Since then, he's started to carve out a role, and head coach Tyronn Lue recently spoke to the value Sanders brings, and one area he's been specifically impressed with.

"Just a confident player, not afraid of the moment. He's made big shots for us and not afraid to take those shots. But I think the most impressive thing is just defensively, just being able to put him on the best player with his size, with his length of being 6-8, understanding how to guard smaller guards, but also guarding bigger players as well," Lue said.

Sanders is on a two-way contract currently with the Clippers, and it won't be long before the team has to decide to convert that to a standard one, given he's played in 29 games already. Regardless of what his future holds, the Clippers got a steal with Sanders and will need all the youth they can get on this roster.