Lose by 33 points on the court, lose by 25 points on the court, and have an annual salary of US$50 million! Should the Clippers consider giving away Kawhi?

The new NBA regular season has begun. After two game days, many teams are eye-catching. First of all, the Mesozoic is gradually taking over the banner of the three legends of Zanduku, such as Edwards + Doncic + Wenbanyama, including Maxi. It is common to score 40+ points. This is the first time in history that four people have scored at least 40 points in the regular season opener. Secondly, many teams that were expected to struggle actually performed very well. The best example is the Warriors, who easily defeated the Lakers. Kuminga was a completely different person, with 17 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. It was so reasonable that it was almost exaggerated. He could complete many exquisite passes, and his three-point shooting was also very accurate. He could coexist with Butler and shoulder the heavy responsibility of defense. To play like this, Kuminga is definitely worth 35 million to 40 million.

But there are also some teams that have high expectations from the outside world, but they have stumbled. For example, the Cavaliers, the favorites to win the championship in the Eastern Conference, are now being bullied by others. In a head-to-head confrontation with the Knicks, the two teams were not on the same level in the final quarter. There are also the Rockets, who ranked first in the league in offensive efficiency in the preseason. When it came to the regular season, Sheppard and Amen were obviously unable to shoulder the organizational responsibility, and the team made too many mistakes. But the most surprising thing must be the Clippers. Facing the Jazz, who are predicted to be at the bottom of the new season, the Clippers were 37 points behind during the game, and finally lost by 21 points. Especially the starting five, with an average net loss of 17 points per game. Sure enough, the Clippers have been the offseason champions in the past few years. Of course, there is no point in arguing. There is no big problem for the Clippers to enter the playoffs in the new season, but the biggest hidden danger of this team has been ignored.

is Leonard. First of all, we all know that Tyronn Lue has often engaged in "self-destruction tactics" since the Cavaliers period. He experienced heavy defeats and losing streaks early on, allowing players to discover problems on their own and work together to solve them. The most typical example is that when Harden first joined the Clippers, he had a five-game losing streak and tested Westbrook out. Ideally, the Clippers' starting lineup must be: Harden + Beal + Kawhi Kawhi + Collins + Zubac. With Collins, why would Kawhi Kawhi be allowed to play the fourth position? This was the case with the Jazz's disastrous defeat. The Jazz forward + interior trio, Markkanen is 2.16 meters, Filipovsky is 2.11 meters, and Kessler is 2.18 meters. Overall, they are one head taller than the Clippers. If you count on Kawhi to face off against Markkanen, you will only be bullied.

But it is certain that the final result will be that Collins moves to the fourth position, Kawhi Kawhi goes to the third position, or even jointly leads the second lineup with Paul in the future. This is not a problem. The problem is Xiaoka's own attitude and ability. Let’s start with the last two official games of Kaka. In the opening game against the Jazz, Kawhi made 3 of 9 shots in 29 minutes and scored 10 points and 4 rebounds. The net loss was 25 points, the lowest in the game! The Clippers played the Nuggets in the final game of the playoffs last season. Kawhi was a pure No. 3. Jones and Batum shared 45 minutes at the No. 4 position. But Kawhi was in the third position, shooting 6 of 13 in 33 minutes and scoring 22 points. The net loss was 33 points, which was still the lowest in the game! If you don't want to play the fourth position, you can just say it. The team also has a deep configuration, but can you really be dominant in the third position?

For a long time, we have easily fallen into a misunderstanding, that is, Kawhi is the absolute upper limit of this Clippers and can reach the championship. This is also the underlying motivation for the Clippers to spend an additional 500 million on the luxury tax alone in the past six seasons. But the last time Leonard broke out in the playoffs was back in the summer of 2023. He played two games with the Suns, against Durant, averaging 34.5 points per game, and then suffered a torn meniscus. In the last two seasons, he was completely out of form in the playoffs last summer, averaging 12 points per game; this summer he averaged 25 points per game. The data and efficiency are indeed not bad, but the On-Off value in the playoffs is -5.3, especially the difference in defensive efficiency between when he is on and off the court, which is an astonishing -16.8 (BR can be checked)!

In fact, it makes no sense to talk about Harden and Paul aside from Leonard. Paul is here to share Harden's ball-holding pressure in the regular season, and Harden is here to ensure that the team's regular season limit is reached and at least one ticket to the playoffs. After Harden came to the Clippers, he can do this, but does the Clippers still have an upper limit? Whether it is the third position or the fourth position, if Leonard wants to lead the team to win the championship, the opponents in front of him must be the level of Gordon, Randall, Butler, Durant, and Jaywe. He cannot avoid them. Compared with previous seasons, Leonard does know how to protect himself, but his competitiveness is gone! He has a salary of 50 million in the new season. If he fails in the regular season, he can stand up in the playoffs.

To take a step back, Leonard is still in the vortex of the "yin and yang contract". The league's punishment can be severe or light, but in essence, it will not cause any harm to the Clippers. It may even help the Clippers to resolve in advance the burden of Kawhi's two-year, $100 million contract. It can be seen from Harden's 1+1 contract (partially guaranteed in the second year) + the 1+1 team option contracts of Bogdan, Batum, Dunn, Daluo and others that the Clippers have no intention of giving Leonard much more time. In this season, whether he plays well or not, he can completely start over at any time. Since landing in the Clippers in the summer of 2019, what has Leonard contributed to the Clippers? I don’t know anything else, but the Clippers lost Alexander.