Buy or Sell Kawhi Leonard, Clippers as NBA Playoff Wild Cards to Avoid
This Los Angeles Clippers season has been anything but smooth sailing.
Kawhi Leonard missed 19 of the team's first 24 games, and the Clippers went an underwhelming (at least for a supposed title contender) 13-11 in those contests.
Over the next couple of months, they painstakingly established some kind of rhythm before signing Russell Westbrook off the buyout market and losing his first five games.
And now, following a 134-126 win over the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday, L.A. has suddenly won four straight.
So, which version, exactly, will we see of this team in the postseason? And if it's the one that's winning games lately, does that make the Clippers the team to avoid from the West?
Bleacher Report's Eric Pincus and Andy Bailey have the answers.
No One Fits the Bill Like the Clippers
The concept of a regular-season trap game has been around for a while. This season, a number of potential trap series could arise in the Western Conference.
The Clippers have had their share of turmoil throughout this campaign, but they're certainly not alone. And that means the conference has a number of teams that have produced below the level their talent maybe suggests they should.
Injuries to LeBron James and Anthony Davis have been tough to manage for the Los Angeles Lakers. They also had a whale of a time trying to fit Russell Westbrook in as a sixth man. The Minnesota Timberwolves never really had time for Karl-Anthony Towns and Rudy Gobert to adjust to playing together, due to an injury to the former. Injuries and almost inexplicably bad play on the road have the Golden State Warriors in range of the play-in tournament too.
If they suddenly get healthy and hit their stride in the next few weeks, all of those teams, not to mention the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks, could be potential nightmares for the West's higher seeds. But none of the lower seeds fit that billing quite like the Clippers.
Kawhi Leonard is 31 and among the game's bigger question marks when it comes to durability, but he's looked an awful lot like the 2019 playoff version of himself of late. Over his last 12 games entering Wednesday, he averaged 28.6 points while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 56.9 percent from three. And his defense looks suffocating again.
On the year, L.A. entered Wednesday plus-7.6 points when he shared the floor with Paul George, per Cleaning the Glass. And those two are the keys to mostly positionless lineups that could cause major problems for Domantas Sabonis' or Nikola Jokić's defense, potentially frustrate Devin Booker and Kevin Durant's offense and bottle up the driving ability of Ja Morant.
Westbrook, of course, is a wild card, but if he can rein in his shoot-first instincts a bit (as he did for the first three wins of this streak when he took a total of 23 attempts) and let playoff Kawhi dictate much of the offense, L.A. has the potential to upset anyone.
Verdict: Buy
—Bailey
LA's Best Shot?
The Clippers very noticeably stumbled after signing Westbrook once he reached a buyout with the Utah Jazz. But head coach Tyronn Lue and the squad have started to iron out the kinks.
The biggest obstacle for the Clippers has been keeping their top two stars on the floor (Leonard and George). Managing minutes is still a part of the equation, but L.A. looks ready for a playoff run.
The team added sufficient depth at the deadline, notably Mason Plumlee (a backup center behind Ivica Zubac) and Eric Gordon (another capable guard). Westbrook adds playmaking, a missing dynamic the last few years for the Clippers, who were previously relying on scorers like Reggie Jackson at the point.
Westbrook can be problematic in end-of-game situations, but the Clippers have enough talent, and Lue has enough authority, to sit him when needed. Westbrook can help the team when he has a favorable matchup. If not, the Clippers can function entirely without him, as they have a very solid roster.
With the Western Conference wide-open, this may be the Clippers' best chance to win. Leonard's challenge has been health, but he's still one of the league's deadliest scorers–and load management won't be part of the equation since teams don't play back-to-backs in the postseason.
The Clippers and Leonard, who has two NBA Finals Most Valuable Player awards along with his rings, could be a problem for any team they face this postseason.
Verdict: Buy
—Pincus
