Kawhi Leonard was caught off guard by the Los Angeles Clippers’ moves at the trade deadline.
The Clippers had been playing some of the best basketball in the entire NBA over the past month and change, but instead of doing anything to upgrade the roster, the Clippers traded away two key contributors in James Harden and Ivica Zubac.
Harden was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Darius Garland and a second-round pick, and Zubac was relocated to the Indiana Pacers for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, two first-round picks and one second-round pick.
“I thought we were tracking well the last six weeks. Everybody has human nature. It’s a complete turnaround from what I thought we could potentially do,” Leonard said. “Not saying we were contenders, but we thought we could make some noise or mess someone’s season up. Now the tides changed. We’ll get back into it, hopefully after All-Star.”
These moves make it seem like the Clippers are positioning themselves for a potential rebuild after the season, and that fact isn’t lost on Leonard.
“Just trying to get younger. We came in the year with the oldest team,” Leonard said. “It makes sense for them to try to get some assets and try to build for the future. It’s a big class coming in 2027, hopefully. They gotta do what’s best for them.”
This story will be updated.
