On Monday, the Los Angeles Clippers staved off the in-form Atlanta Hawks, beating them 149-144 on the road to extend their winning streak to four. Superstar forward Kawhi Leonard had a sensational outing, scoring 36 points in 37 minutes to lead his team to the victory at State Farm Arena. The game against the Hawks was the Clippers’ second in two nights, and Leonard stepped up on both occasions. His incredible performance prompted Skip Bayless to compare him to NFL’s MVP-elect Lamar Jackson.
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Following the Clippers’ win, Bayless posted on X, formerly called Twitter,
“Here comes Kawhi into the MVP race. Playing another back to back, at Atl, he just scored 34 on 13-20 & 5-8 from three. Won’t have gaudy “MVP” stats. But he’s the Clippers’ Lamar Jackson. They go as he goes.”
The Lamar Jackson comparison is pretty apt in this instance. The Baltimore Ravens quarterback is not a prolific passer and has never had a season with over 4,000 passing yards. However, he’s pretty efficient when he passes the ball and doesn’t commit too many turnovers. Likewise, Leonard has never been a prolific scorer, at least in the regular season. He has averaged over 26 points only twice in his career. However, he’s terrific defensively and is also very efficient as a scorer. The two-time NBA Champion has a career field-goal percentage of 49.8, and is an 86% free throw shooter.
Jackson and Leonard don’t fill up the stat sheet like many other superstars but are the backbones of their respective teams. The Ravens were a perfect 6-0 when their quarterback threw for 237 passing yards or more, while the Clippers are 15-5 in games where their superstar forward scored more than 25 points.
Jackson is the massive favorite to win the MVP award after the Ravens’ incredible surge late in the season helped them secure the #1 seed in the AFC. If Leonard can continue his impressive form and the Clippers finish atop the Western Conference standings, the 32-year-old could win his first league MVP award this year.
Skip Bayless continues to push the ‘Kawhi Leonard for MVP’ agenda
After the Clippers’ hard-fought 103-95 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday, which came on the back of Kawhi Leonard’s 24-point performance, Skip Bayless began lobbying for the forward to win the MVP this year. He compared Leonard’s campaign to Lamar Jackson’s expected NFL MVP award win, writing,
“If the Clippers, who have won 25 of 30, win the West, Kawhi should win a Lamar-esque MVP. He won’t have MVP-style stats – neither does Lamar – but Kawhi is having Lamar’s eye-test impact on the season. Clips go as he goes. Right now he’s scary healthy.”
Leonard is having a modest season statistically. He’s averaging 24.2 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists. However, he’s been a menace on the defensive end. Among players averaging 34 or more minutes, Leonard has the fifth-best defensive rating in the league. The Clippers forward and MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander are the only two players in the league with an offensive rating of over 121 and a defensive rating of under 110.5, while averaging 34+ minutes a game.
Leonard has also been surprisingly healthy this season. He averaged 55 appearances between 2018 and 2023 but has missed only four of the Clippers’ 48 games this season. On Monday’s episode of FS1’s Undisputed, Bayless claimed that Kawhi’s recent uninterrupted run is due to his hard work, saying,
“[Kawhi Leonard] worked his tail off. He doesn’t post about it on social media like a lot of people do. But he worked his tail off in the offseason to get this healthy. And he has no plans to be avoiding all the back-to-back[games].”
Leonard is currently eighth on the NBA’s MVP ladder. But if the forward and the Clippers continue their incredible surge, he could win the MVP and add the only individual accolade missing on his CV.
