{"id":11686,"date":"2025-05-05T22:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-05-05T22:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/11686\/"},"modified":"2025-05-05T22:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-05-05T22:09:10","slug":"clippers-want-to-keep-building-their-future-around-kawhi-leonard-and-james-harden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/11686\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers want to keep building their future around Kawhi Leonard and James Harden"},"content":{"rendered":"

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Kawhi Leonard<\/a> is healthy going into the offseason for the first time since 2020, having played just 37 games before the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> lost in the first round of the playoffs. The team with the oldest roster in the league is staking its future on the two-time Finals MVP and All-Star James Harden<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely believe in those two,\u201d Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, said Monday.<\/p>\n

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Leonard didn’t make his season debut until January while dealing with inflammation in his surgically repaired right knee. He averaged 21.5 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists while playing 31.9 minutes nightly in the regular season. He has two years left on his current deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s another level for him out there that he’s going to get to next year,\u201d said Frank, who spoke via video from New York, where he’s dealing with a family medical issue. \u201cI think looking at next year that we can be better with more games from Kawhi.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally signed to complement Leonard and now former Clipper Paul George, Harden ‘s role changed this season. He was tasked with picking up much of the load until Leonard was able to play. He responded with averages of 22.8 points, 8.7 assists and 5.8 rebounds. He averaged a team-high 35 minutes while playing in 79 games.<\/p>\n

But he disappeared in the team’s blowout loss to Denver in Game 7 of the playoffs with seven points on 2 for 8 shooting and 13 assists.<\/p>\n

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The Clippers failed to advance out of the first round for the third straight season, despite going 50-32 and earning the fifth seed in the rugged Western Conference in their first season at the new Intuit Dome.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur players are embarrassed about Game 7 and they\u2019re really, really upset that we lost the series,\u201d Frank said.<\/p>\n

Harden has a player option for next season, when he\u2019ll be 36. Frank said he’s given no consideration to Harden not sticking around.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a great level of appreciation for what James did this year,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m going in with the intent that if he doesn\u2019t pick up his option that we\u2019re going to be able to reach an agreement that works well for James and works well for the Clippers.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nicolas Batum also has a player option for next season. He shot 43% from 3-point range in 78 regular-season games.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, 1000%, we hope that Nico comes back,\u201d Frank said.<\/p>\n

The Clippers got career years from Ivica Zubac and Norman Powell, who was injured coming out of the All-Star break.<\/p>\n

Powell is eligible for an extension, while Amir Coffey and Ben Simmons are unrestricted free agents.<\/p>\n

Frank envisions the Clippers winning 50 to 55 games next season while getting front court help and another playmaker through free agency or trades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great that we were healthy for the first time in a long time, but that doesn\u2019t mean you only get one shot at it,\u201d Frank said. \u201cWe\u2019ll keep on taking cracks at it and at the same time, we\u2019ve always been open-minded and learning the errors of our way and finding areas where we can correct them and get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/NBA<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) \u2014 Kawhi Leonard is healthy going into the offseason for the first time since 2020,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11687,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[4040,7,2643,301,187,3943,527,532,529,4902,135,6,1522,558,302,526,4903],"class_list":{"0":"post-11686","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-amir-coffey","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-ben-simmons","11":"tag-denver","12":"tag-denver-nuggets","13":"tag-denvernuggets","14":"tag-harden","15":"tag-ivica-zubac","16":"tag-kawhi-leonard","17":"tag-lawrence-frank","18":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-nicolas-batum","21":"tag-norman-powell","22":"tag-nuggets","23":"tag-paul-george","24":"tag-season-debut"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114457514070029429","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11686"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11686\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}