Reviewing the Kawhi Leonard Clippers Era: #nba

Reviewing the Kawhi Leonard Clippers Era: #nba



Reviewing the Kawhi Leonard Clippers Era: #nba

The Kawhi Leonard Clippers era is officially over.

And looking back, this might be one of the biggest “win now” failures in NBA History.

Kawhi spent 7 seasons with the Clippers from 2019 to 2026.
During those 7 seasons, the Clippers made the playoffs 5 times. And missed the postseason twice.

And even in those postseason experiences, most were underwhelming, they won just 3 playoff series in 7 years.

Their deepest run came in 2021, when the Clippers reached their first Western Conference Finals ever. But Kawhi didn’t even play in that series because he tore his ACL against Utah.
Meaning Kawhi himself never played past the second round as a Clipper.

Which is crazy, because in just ONE season with Toronto, Kawhi won 4 playoff series and an NBA Championship.

And remember what the Clippers gave up to build this team. They traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a massive amount of draft picks for Paul George just so Kawhi would stay there.

The Clippers were consistently good, but injuries kept destroying their championship chances.
So after 7 seasons:
5 playoff appearances.
3 series wins.
1 Conference Finals appearance.
Zero NBA Finals.
Zero championships.

And now Kawhi is going back to Toronto.
The Clippers are getting younger and trying to retool, but considering the expectations and everything they lost after this scandal, I think you have to call the Kawhi Clippers era a failure.

View Comments (25)
  1. As funny as I think it would be if Kawhi had 7 years of failure in L.A. just to come back and win in Toronto, the fact is Kawhi is infamously injury prone. Besides that, even when he has played recently he has had dicy outings. In the 2025 series against Denver, he didn't close out the series well. Nor did he play well in the 2026 play-in game against the Warriors where all season he had been a perenial top 10 player.

  2. Regular season merchants. People defend the clippers by saying they have the second highest western conference PCT in the last 10 years without it meaning anything.

  3. It’s funny how the teams who got “screwed” in the 2019 offseason (Lakers, Thunder, Knicks) won championships whereas the teams who “benefited” (Nets and Clippers) didn’t, and they probably never will.

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