The Los Angeles Clippers season has ended in the playoffs. Losing to the Phoenix Suns in the first round of the NBA Playoffs. With this exit, it's another failed season in Los Angeles for the Kawhi Leonard Clippers. Yet again it is failure due to injuries to the two stars of LA in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
Paul George was injured on March 21 versus the Oklahoma City Thunder, collapsing to the floor in what looked to be a horrible injury. Thankfully enough, it turned out to be a right knee sprain and not something more serious. Nevertheless, George was out ever since as the Clippers went into the playoffs to face the Phoenix Suns. It had been reported that if the Clippers could get pass the Suns that George could return for the Western Conference Semifinals.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen.
The Clippers fell short to the Suns. They fell short because they were outmanned despite being competitive and making things difficult for the West favorites. Now, you may say that the Clippers were already outmanned without Paul George, however watching the series especially Games 1 and 2, the Clippers presented a problem because of Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers to a Game 1 win in Phoenix dropping 38 points and taking home court from the Suns. Game 2 went the Suns way but hard fought as Kevin Durant and Devin Booker had to combine for 63 points led by Booker's 38 points to even the series. Kawhi Leonard had 31 points in Game 2, and you could see the Clippers being a problem for Phoenix as the series shifted to the city of angels.
Then the expected unexpected happen to the Clippers going home.
Kawhi Leonard wouldn't play in Game 3 and 4 with a knee sprain that happened in Game 1, where Leonard dropped 38 points in a win not to mention 31 points in Game 2. It's the expected unexpected because going into the playoffs people wonder how long Leonard can hold up, but people didn't focus on it much after Games 1 and 2 because Leonard was the best player on the court. Then the injury happened without many people noticing.
Games 3 and 4 were tight contested battles as Russell Westbrook and Norman Powell led the shorthanded Clippers, but would loss both games at home as Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Chris Paul excellence proved to be too much and the Suns took the commanding 3-1 lead in the series. The Suns would finish off the Clippers Tuesday night behind 47 points from Devin Booker.
One sport personality had some strong words for the two-Finals MVP Leonard in ESPN's Stephen A. Smith. Smith on Friday's show First Take said "Kawhi Leonard should be on the list of one of the worst superstars this game has ever seen." Smith would double down that evening on NBA Countdown to say "I think the man should retire. I'm sick of these injuries to Kawhi Leonard."
Now, Smith has never questioned the legitimacy of the injuries to Kawhi Leonard, but it has gotten to the point where not only Smith, but NBA fans as a whole are tired of the Clippers superstar not being available continuously. In year four with the Clippers, this was the best Leonard has looked since his title run in Toronto in 2019. Which brings back Stephen A. Smith to the conversation. There was something Smith during his 'Kawhi Worst Superstar take' that most people didn't realize.
""If you remember in 2019, Kawhi Leonard played all 24 postseason games for the Toronto Raptors. Since that time, Kawhi Leonard has played 26 total playoff games for the Clippers."
Leonard has played only 26 playoffs games for the Clippers in four seasons but led the Raptors their first and only NBA Championship in one season in 2019.
Now that year four is done, is it time to call the Kawhi Leonard Clippers a failure and move on from the superstar?
Year one was the choke job in the bubble in 2020, where the Clippers had a 3-1 lead over the Denver Nuggets and lost in seven games. The iron of the world fell on Paul George more than Kawhi.
Year two was the Kawhi-less Clippers where they made it to the Western Conference Finals led by Paul George as Leonard was injured in the Utah Jazz series. The Clippers fell in six games to the Phoenix Suns in the West Finals. To this day, people believe if Kawhi was healthy that the Clippers would have beaten the Suns and would have been in the Finals in 2021.
Year three was just a bad year for the Clippers as both Leonard and George weren't healthy throughout majority of the season and the Clippers made the play-in tournament but missed the playoffs last season.
Now, year four ends in the first-round exit to the Phoenix Suns in five games because of injuries to the main stars once again. No Paul George to begin the playoffs, the Clippers still managed to take Game 1 in Phoenix led by Kawhi Leonard. However, Kawhi Leonard wouldn't see the court again after Game 2 with a knee sprain injury.
Three of the four seasons in Los Angeles, Kawhi Leonard has been injured/load managing to where people are no longer believing in this team. The one-year Kawhi Leonard and Paul George played together in the playoffs, they chocked a 3-1 lead against Denver in the bubble.
Paul George led the Clippers to the Western Conference Finals in 2021 without Kawhi Leonard. What has Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers to...... NOTHING!
To make matters worse, even though the Clippers have beaten their LA counterparts in the Lakers 12 straights, it's the Lakers that have a Championship banner hanging in Crypto.com Arean from the bubble in 2020. Now the Lakers are on the verge of going further than the Clippers if they can end the Memphis Grizzlies Wednesday night for Game 5 with a 3-1 lead.