For Kawhi Leonard, this season has been the ultimate roller coaster.
He went from being the biggest snub of the NBA All-Star Game to putting on its best performance after commissioner Adam Silver added him as an injury replacement.
He went from helping the Clippers become the hottest team in the league amid a 17-5 run to watching them deteriorate into rebuild mode after they traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac earlier this month.
He went from being embroiled in drama before the season even began amid allegations that the Clippers circumvented the salary cap regarding a $28 million endorsement deal through Aspiration to having one of the best seasons of his career.
He went from being dismissed an injury-riddled has-been to reminding everyone that he’s one of the league’s top superstars.
Leonard has quietly been one of the biggest storylines of the season for both the best and worst reasons.
And on Sunday, he was at the center of the basketball world after eking his way into the All-Star Game as the sole representative of the Clippers and their shiny new $2 billion arena, which hosted the event.
Leonard responded by putting on a MasterClass in showmanship. He scored 31 points in 12 minutes on 11-for-13 shooting from the field and 6-for-7 shooting from beyond the arc during the World versus Stripes contest, including making a game-winning stepback 3-pointer with four seconds left.
Even though his team didn’t make the championship round of the league’s new round-robin tournament, he received four of the 14 MVP votes. (Anthony Edwards received the remainder of the votes after leading his team to win the competition.)
For Leonard, Sunday was a microcosm of his season as a whole: He has managed to shine through all of the drama.
“I feel like I’m one of the best when I am playing basketball,” he said.
There are a long list of hypotheticals surrounding this season for Leonard.
If it weren’t for the Clippers’ dreadful 6-21 start, would he have been in the MVP conversation? If the team hadn’t punted this season by trading two of their most important players, could he have helped them claw their way up the Western Conference standings? If it weren’t for the Aspiration scandal, would the league’s coaches have voted him into the All-Star Game as a reserve?
For Leonard, the most frustrating part of all this is he’s finally playing like himself again.
He’s averaging a career-high 27.9 points a game and is leading the league in steals (2.1). He’s also averaging 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists for the Clippers, who are in 10th place in the Western Conference with a record of 26-28.
There’s no doubt about it: When Leonard is healthy, he’s atop the league.
The problem is that’s a big caveat.
Heading into this season, Leonard had missed 226 regular season games since joining the Clippers in free agency in 2019, as well as multiple playoff series. It has been such a glaring issue that two years ago, ESPN’s Stephen A Smith said Leonard should retire.
But this season, Leonard has come roaring back. He’s dominant. He’s fluid. He’s one of the top two-way players in the game.
It’s unfortunate timing considering his great play has been overshadowed by all of the drama.
He was embroiled in controversy beginning at Clippers’ media day, when he was peppered with questions about the salary cap circumvention allegations. “None of us did no wrongdoing,” he said at the time. “We invite the investigations.”
Five months later, Leonard was once again in the spotlight after the Clippers stunningly traded Harden and Zubac in an attempt to get younger and clear salary cap space for free agency in 2027.
The player who’s famous for his stoicism couldn’t help but show tinges of disappointment.
“It’s a complete turnaround from what I thought we could potentially do,” Leonard said Feb. 6. “Not saying we were contenders. But we thought we could make some noise or mess somebody’s season up.”
The question is what’s next for Leonard?
That’s a big unknown for now. He has one season left on his deal after this one. And the Clippers reportedly turned down multiple inquiries about him ahead of the trade deadline.
Leonard, who has been the face of the franchise for seven seasons, watched Paul George leave in free agency in 2024 and then Harden wanted out a few weeks ago. Now, the championship window on this iteration of the team has been officially slammed shut.
Will he be a part of what’s next for the Clippers?
Could he demand a trade? Or eventually leave in free agency? Or will he remain a centerpiece of the team’s retooling? And how does the Aspiration scandal impact all of this?
Right now, there are more questions than answers for the beleaguered superstar.
Leonard is clearly choosing to deal with the uncertainty by focusing on the one thing he can control.
His game.
He’s finally healthy and he’s hellbent on reminding the world what that means.
