Kawhi Leonard's Quote About Clippers Having To 'Sacrifice' After James Harden Trade All But Guarantees Their Demise
Prior to going out and acquiring James Harden from Philadelphia, the Los Angeles Clippers were already championship contenders in the minds of many. Adding Harden to a roster with Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Russell Westbrook, and Ivica Zubac has turned them into a legitimate force.
On paper, that is.
Having too many cooks in the kitchen is a very real thing, and the walls can get tight in a hurry when Harden is the one being thrown into the mix. We're talking about a player making $35 million this season who is now suiting up for his fourth different team since 2021. An elite scorer and playmaker for sure, but also an inevitable headache at some point in the season.
Kawhi Leonard says the Clippers have to be both selfish and make sacrifices after the James Harden trade. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
While Harden has averaged over 10 assists in each of the last three seasons, that doesn't mean he's not going to want the ball in his hands late in tightly contested games. Kawhie Leonard is well aware of that fact, and the fact that his team now has four players that are going to want to be the go-to guy down the stretch.
"I think we still have to come in kind of like with a selfish mindset," Leonard said. "Meaning we can't look over our shoulder and say this guy is going to win the game, or this guy's going to win the game for us. We still have to step on that floor like we are out there by ourselves, and from there, it is going to be sacrifice. It's only one basketball, and we just got to figure it out from there."
"But I think we all are old enough to understand what we want to do here and we'll see what happens."
The fact that Leonard said players need to be selfish and then two sentences later talked about making sacrifices proves this team has some experimenting to do.
This new-look Clippers team deserves a bit of a grace period, but Leonard's quote feels like something that may only come back and bite him and Los Angeles if this four-headed monster thing doesn't work.
Harden and Westbrook haven't at any point in their careers been able to put their personalities completely aside. Maybe this time around they can, but you'd be foolish to bet on that before seeing any proof out in LA.