The Los Angeles Clippers will be contenders contingent on health. How many times have we heard that before? Availability is the best ability for every team across sports, but that quote applies to the Clippers on another level.
The Lob City era was the first time the Clippers were serious title contenders. Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and the crew were must-see TV, throwing above-the-rim lobs and playing sneaky underappreciated defense. These loaded squads always lacked a wing scorer and healthy playoff runs.
Their injury luck was so unfortunate that CP3 and Griffin suffered series-ending injuries in the same game during the Clippers' 2016 first-round matchup with the not-ready Portland Trailblazers.
Griffin missed Games 4, 5, 6, and 7 in the 2017 first round with a toe injury. Another year, LA had high hopes of winning it all.
The Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era suffered the same injury fate. George carried the Clippers to their first conference finals appearance in 2021. George played his best ball in the postseason since his Pacers days, but he was without Leonard, who tore his ACL in round two.
More season-ending injuries shortened the next few years, and thoughts of "why does this keep happening" piled up. Clippers Nation is asking the same questions today, but this year may be different.
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Kawhi Leonard is peaking at the right time with pieces around him. His health should scare the rest of the NBA
Kawhi Leonard is one of the best two-way players this game has seen. As a perimeter two-way, you can count on one hand the number of players better than him.
The injuries have interfered with the Hall of Famer's stout career and cost him longevity numbers. That said, Leonard isn't lacking in a big category: Championships. He has two to his name, and a healthy playoff run could land him another.
Kawhi Leonard has averaged 26.3 PPG on 67.4% TS over his last six games ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/9aOYHWQju0
— Brett Usher (@UsherNBA) March 24, 2025
Leonard has only appeared in 28 games this season, but he's only missed five games since February. March is the best time to get rolling in college and professional basketball. Since the third month of the year began, Leonard is back to his normal self, torching defenses with 25 points and sporting a 60 true shooting percentage. The board man still gets paid; he's snagged seven rebounds per game in that span.
Health is the only thing holding this Clippers team back, even though they lost Paul George in the offseason. Norman Powell was adamant about "addition by subtraction," and he and the others on the Clippers are flourishing.
James Harden is still a dynamic floor general and was named an All-Star for the 11th time this year. Ivica Zubac is the man in the middle; he's one of the best two-way bigs in basketball.
The Clippers' fourth-ranked defense features Zu, a no-nonsense rim protector, and sturdy lockdown perimeter defenders Khris Dunn and Derrick Jones Jr. Norman Powell is their leading scorer for the season. He's a no-conscious bucket-getter who's already won a title alongside Leonard.
Clippers naysayers could point to Harden's playoff shortcoming and their health as a reason to undersell this team, but the presence of Kawhi Leonard will override that noise. He's one of those players who gets drastically better in the postseason.
That 2019 Raptors run was one for the ages, and Clipper fans have already been treated to a Leonard efficiency masterclass like the 2021 first-round series against the Dallas Mavericks (32 points per game on 72 true shooting percentage).
This elite Clippers defense, paired with Kawhi Leonard's dominating play, could ultimately see LA reach heights it has never ascended to if the matchups go their way. They're currently the seventh seed, and I'd favor them over the young Houston Rockets.
It won't be easy because Ime Udoka is a strong-willed coach who will have the Rockets ready to defend. Still, the experience of a healthy Kawhi with a group of complementary players around him is tough to ignore.
Health always determines the playoffs. You could assign an asterisk to most champions in the past if you dissect their run to the Finals and the injury bug they avoided or ran into. For once, I pray the basketball gods allow the Clippers to remain healthy, and we see a full-fledged Kawhi Leonard strike terror across the Western Conference and potentially the whole NBA.