“If Kawhi Leonard is healthy this team is special, but how many games is it gonna be?”: Veteran ESPN reporter asks an apt question regarding The Terminator’s fitness

LA Clippers have kept getting better on paper since hitting the jackpot on Kawhi Leonard and Paul George back in 2019, but nothing has gone their way.

Even after surrounding the superstar duo in the first season with more than a decent squad, each off-season since then, they have been able to attract big names.

They had Marcus Morris Sr., Reggie Jackson, Patrick Beverly, and Lou Williams in that first season but still crashed out of the second round of playoffs at the hands of Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray’s Nuggets.

Trading some pieces and adding Rajon Rondo, Serge Ibaka, Nicolas Batum, and Luke Kannard could only get them one step further where they got sent home by the Phoenix Suns.

Those 2021 Playoffs would also be the last Clipper Nation would see of Leonard, and now as he’s prepared to make a comeback after a year, they have another big name for their 2022-23 squad.

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Clippers go as far as Kawhi Leonard takes them

Even when Leonard was out, the front office of the Clippers worked significantly better than their cross-the-hall rivals and added the likes of Robert Covington and Norman Powell to an already decent squad led by PG13.

Although they couldn’t get past the Play-in tournament with that lot, just adding Leonard to that equation for the upcoming season would have made them arguably the best team in the league. But they will also have the services of a former superstar of the league, John Wall.

Now if that’s not a super team, there have been none in the past. With “The Claw” back, the Clips literally have 5-6 players in the current squad who have averaged 20 points per game for multiple seasons of their career and a significantly good defense as well.

“He looks mid-season form. … Which is a scary sight.”
-Paul George on Kawhi Leonard pic.twitter.com/M8hge9V7eU

— Culture Jam (@culturejam) August 18, 2022

But still, as ESPN veteran reporter Marc J Spears said on Thursday’s Reporter’s Roundtable show, this team goes as far as Kawhi Leonard takes them and had the obvious concern that every Clippers fan has.

“I talked to Terance Mann in the offseason. He believes the Clippers are gonna win the championship,” Marc said. “There’s a lot of Clippers buzz (but) All this Clippers talk starts and ends with Kawhi Leonard and if he’s healthy this team is special, but how many games is it gonna be?”

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About the author

Akash Murty

An Electrical and Electronics Engineer by degree, Akash Murty is an NBA Editor at The SportsRush. Previously a Software Engineer, Murty couldn’t keep himself away from sports, and his knack for writing and putting his opinion forward brought him to the TSR. A big Soccer enthusiast, his interest in basketball developed late, as he got access to a hoop for the first time at 17. Following this, he started watching basketball at the 2012 Olympics, which transitioned to NBA, and he became a fan of the game as he watched LeBron James dominate the league. Him being an avid learner of the game and ritually following the league for around a decade, he now writes articles ranging from throwbacks, and live game reports, to gossip. LA Lakers are his favourite basketball team, while Chelsea has his heart in football. He also likes travelling, reading fiction, and sometimes cooking.

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