Happy birthday Kawhi, ranking his best regular season games as a Clipper

Date: January 24th, 2020

Stats: 30 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists

It didn’t take long for Kawhi Leonard to develop his offensive game. By the time he approached his third season in the NBA, the former two-time Defensive Player of the Year was already a solid scorer, dropping 16.5 points a night. However, since then, and putting aside an injury-filled 2017-18 season, Leonard has found his name near the top of the NBA scoring leaderboards every year.

Armed with a deft shooting touch, Leonard is also a physically imposing player, standing at 6’7” and weighing 225 pounds. Leonard often uses his physique to clear out the lane as he crashes the glass. His one weakness, nevertheless, has been his somewhat underwhelming passing ability. But, after years of working on his floor general game, Leonard has shed that label.

On January 24th, 2020, Leonard had an incredibly difficult time figuring out the Miami Heats’ sophisticated defense. As both squads waffled back and forth, it was Leonard’s Clippers who escaped with the five-point victory. It wasn’t his scoring, however, that got the job done. Having finished with a field goal percentage of just 40.9%, Leonard’s ability to spot the open man carried the day. It was the first time in his Hall of Fame bound career that Leonard finished a game with a triple-double, as he dropped 30 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists.