{"id":685229,"date":"2026-03-29T02:22:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T02:22:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/685229\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T02:22:31","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T02:22:31","slug":"clippers-kawhi-leonard-takes-on-bigger-leadership-role-with-key-veterans-gone-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/685229\/","title":{"rendered":"Clippers\u2019 Kawhi Leonard Takes on Bigger Leadership Role with Key Veterans Gone"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been more than a month since the Los Angeles Clippers traded veterans James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the NBA trade deadline in February. In addition to losing the duo\u2019s talent on the court, the trades left the Clippers without two of the team\u2019s biggest leaders.<\/p>\n

Clippers superstar Kawhi Leonard is known for his more quiet personality. But since the Harden and Zubac trades, Leonard has stepped into a larger leadership role to fill the voids left by the pair. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think this year, the difference is, with James and Zu being gone, he understands that he has to speak up a little bit more,\u201d Clippers guard Kris Dunn said of Leonard, per The Athletic\u2019s Law Murray<\/a>. \u201cWe got a lot of young guys that are playing, and he\u2019s been doing a phenomenal job with it. He\u2019s speaking a lot more. As everybody knows, he\u2019s a quiet person. But at the same time, he is not.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LALA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard (2) drives to the basket past Dallas Mavericks forward P.J. Washington (25) during the first quarter at the American Airlines Center Mar 21, 2026. Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Young Clippers Look Up to the Future Hall of Famer<\/p>\n

Leonard is a two-time NBA champion and won the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Award in both of those championship runs. The seven-time All-Star\u2019s experience makes him the perfect leader for some of the Clippers\u2019 younger players.<\/p>\n

One of those players is 23-year-old guard Bennedict Mathurin. <\/p>\n

Back in February, shortly after the Clippers traded Harden and Zubac, Leonard gave some advice to Mathurin after he missed what could have been a game-winning shot for Los Angeles against the Orlando Magic. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey understand he\u2019s a Hall of Famer,\u201d Dunn said to\u00a0The Athletic\u00a0about Leonard. \u201cThe first thing (Leonard) told (Mathurin) was, \u2018Yo, you\u2019re good! This is part of your growth.\u2019 And to see something like that from a Hall of Famer, somebody who\u2019s playing at an exceptional level this year, to be able to give Benn that type of confidence to let him know don\u2019t worry about it, that shot is gonna come again, you\u2019ll be prepared \u2026 I thought it was major.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that shows the step right there. Like, OK, he\u2019s taking another step in the leadership role.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leonard\u2019s leadership has been huge for helping the Clippers overcome a disappointing 6-21 start to the season. Now, Los Angeles ranks eight in the Western Conference with a 37-26 record and has clinched a play-in position for the NBA playoffs.<\/p>\n

Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It\u2019s been more than a month since the Los Angeles Clippers traded veterans James Harden and Ivica Zubac…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":685230,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,529,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-685229","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-kawhi-leonard","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-la-clippers","13":"tag-laclippers","14":"tag-los-angeles","15":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","16":"tag-losangeles","17":"tag-losangelesclippers","18":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116310085521420975","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685229","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=685229"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/685229\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/685230"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=685229"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=685229"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=685229"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}