Despite the excitement surrounding their state of the art new arena, the Intuit Dome, the Los Angeles Clippers entered this season as nothing more than an afterthought.
Paul George’s departure in the offseason, the persistent injuries of Kawhi Leonard, and doubts on James Harden’s physical fitness led many to overlook this team. However, head coach Tyronn Lue has done yet another masterful job of steering this team through turbulent waters.
Lue has extracted a renaissance season from the 35-year-old Harden while inspiring career-best campaigns from Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac. Powell is averaging a career-best 22.6 points per game on an efficient 49.0% field goal shooting while Zubac is putting up an All-NBA worthy 16.5 points and 12.6 rebounds a night.
By the time Leonard made his season debut on January 4, the Clippers were finding their groove rather than at the bottom of the standings. They were four games above .500 at 19-15 and well entrenched in the West playoff race.
With six games left on their regular season schedule, Los Angeles is seventh in the tight West race with a 44-32 record. They are only 2.5 games back of their crosstown rival Los Angeles Lakers for the third seed though and well above the ninth place Dallas Mavericks who are 6.5 games behind them.
Leonard naturally started out slow, but he has regained his form in recent weeks and is once again beginning to look like the player who was considered one of the best in the league. Last March, the 33-year-old forward logged his best month of the year so far, averaging 25.2 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 13 games.
With Leonard and Harden leading the way—alongside Powell, Zubac, and midseason acquisition Bogdan Bogdanovic—this Clippers team should be seen as more than just a threat to escape the first round. Kris Dunn, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, and even Ben Simmons have played their roles to a tee as well, further adding to this team’s depth.
Los Angeles has the pieces to contend for the Western Conference title and even win it all. Yes, Leonard’s health is the biggest ‘What-if?’ for them, yet if he can stay on the court, this team can legitimately hang with the league’s best on a nightly basis.
