Kawhi Leonard STAYS CALM despite a poor 5-15 Clippers start: "It's still early. Got 62 games left"

If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change.

In a battle of the Western Conference bottom feeders, the Dallas Mavericks defeated the Los Angeles Clippers by 114–110 last night despite being without Anthony Davis, Daniel Gafford and Dereck Lively. The crisis for Tyronn Lue's team has deepened even further, and with a 5–15 record, they currently sit 13th in the conference.

Nobody could have predicted this for a team that pushed the Denver Nuggets to seven games in last season's playoffs. Even though they officially became the oldest team in the Association's history at 33.2 years on average, their best production is coming from the veterans.

Kawhi Leonard is playing very well despite missing the opening part of the season, while James Harden looks like his MVP self, but even all of that hasn't been enough. Still, the 2019 champion with the Toronto Raptors isn't losing hope.

"Yeah. I mean, what'd you say, 5-15? It's still early. Got 62 games left. We just gotta be in that second quarter [of the season], the last three-fourths of the season, and see what we can do," Leonard said in a postgame interview after another loss.

Kawhi and Harden are dominating, but the team can't find its rhythm

Last night, The Klaw played his first back-to-back of the season, and after 10 games, he's averaging 25.4 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.0 steals while shooting 51.1 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from deep and 98.0 percent from the free-throw line.

However, Bradley Beal is out for the season, Chris Paul recently announced his retirement after this season, and the situation with Bogdan Bogdanovic is unclear, as he sometimes starts and sometimes doesn't even enter the rotation. All of this has led media members and fans across the league to heavily debate the biggest surprise of the season so far, and Gilbert Arenas feels Harden and Leonard are not a good fit together.

"The teams James wins with, the talent is not here. It's usually mediocre; they're just specialists. If there is too much talent, he has to differ so much from getting all these guys the ball," Arenas said on his show. "Kawhi's more of an iso type of a player and how James is, he's gonna hold it, throw it, ya'll just shoot it. I think him and Kawhi, they're not in sync."

Could this be the end of the Kawhi era in LAC uniform?

It's hard to say someone isn't in sync when both are playing at an All-Star level, but there is some truth in Arenas' statement. According to NBA.com, when Leonard and Harden share the floor, the Clippers have an offensive rating of 118.0 and a defensive rating of 121.7, resulting in a negative net rating of -3.7.

It's clear the two of them aren't the reason for such a poor start to the season, but it's also apparent that Lue can't find a lineup that complements their skill sets. The only one consistently delivering is Ivica Zubac. The LA-based team has used 50 different lineups this season, a clear sign of inconsistency and searching. If things don't stabilize soon, this season could mark the end of Kawhi's era with the Clippers.

Related: Nick Young MOCKS Kawhi Leonard for demanding better talent on the Clippers

This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Nov 30, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.