When Paul George and Kawhi Leonard joined forces in July 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers were quickly deemed as legitimate title contenders. After all, you have two of the best two-way players in the NBA about to don the same jersey. George just came off an incredible individual year with the Oklahoma City Thunder while Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to a title. Almost a year after that announcement and several games played together, maybe it's time to ask the question: are Leonard and George as good of a fit as we think?
First and foremost, George and Leonard seem to be an unlikely pair. Here you have two players with almost identical playstyles. Both of them can score from three, around the perimeter, and in the paint. Their offensive moves are different as George employs silky-smooth moves while Leonard utilizes force and precision.
It would be foolish to compare them to other duos who have won titles like LeBron James-Kyrie, LeBron James-Dwyane Wade, or even Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The aforementioned duos somehow complement each others' styles. But George and Leonard seem to overlap one another — at least in the offense.
A quick look at one of their games reveals the two seem to operate individually on offense. They don't necessarily work on a two-man game like the aforementioned duos. This may not be due to a lack of chemistry. George once said that head coach Doc Rivers pretty much gives them free rein on offense. And it definitely shows. It's a strategic choice by Rivers given how loaded the Clippers are. Note that there's Lou Williams who, despite always coming off the bench, is capable of dropping 20 a night. And Williams seems to have developed a lethal pick-and-roll game with Montrezl Harrell which has been a critical part of the Clippers' offensive arsenal.
George and Leonard have played just 28 games together where they are 21-7. Statistics culled by The Ringer reveal that with the two in the lineup, the Clippers have an average 8.0 win differential. This ranks second in the league next to the Milwaukee Bucks who have a 12.8 point differential. In third place are the Los Angeles Lakers with a 7.4 point differential.
However, with just one or neither of them playing, the Clippers hold a 20-12 record with a 4.7-point differential. The statistics seem to indicate that the Clippers perform best with both George and Leonard in the lineup. Without them, they can still survive. But the Rivers-coached squad is at its peak with them around.
In terms of defensive rating, the Clippers ranked fifth in the league with a rating of 106.6. Among the many key indicators of defensive performance, it's in the defensive rebound department that the Clippers do the most damage. They snag 37.0 defensive rebounds per game for third in the league. Leonard lives by his mantra of Board Man Gets paid since he snags 6.3 defensive rebounds per game out of his total of 7.3. George, who has always been a great rebounder, snags 5.2 defensive rebounds a game out of 5.7.
Looking at more advanced metrics reveal the same picture: George and Leonard are beasts on the defensive end. Leonard averages 3.6 deflections for fifth in the league. In terms of one-on-one defense, Leonard continually reminds us why he's a two-time Defensive Player of the Year. When guarding forwards in isolation, he limits them to just 40.5 percent from the field. When defending guards, he contains them to just 38.5 percent. Note that NBA players in general shoot in the neighborhood of 40 to 50 percent.
George's numbers as a lone defender won't scream at you like Leonard's. But an interesting metric reveals George's incredible impact on the defensive end. Among all players in the league, George has matched up the longest with Robert Covington, Rusell Westbrook, and DeMar DeRozan. He has limited all those players under 30 percent from the field. Westbrook and DeRozan are noteworthy since they are the most potent scorers of their team. But in their match-up with George, they have tossed bricks and sport a 23.5 percent and 28.6 clip from the field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KlUvnaeuTP0
All in all, it's a difficult task to definitely conclude if George and Leonard are a good fit. It's not just because they haven't' played many games together. As mentioned above, coach Rivers has too many offensive tools on his roster. To design his offense playbook with only George and Leonard as the focal point is simply a disservice to the rest of the squad. On defense, they both do extremely well individually, which then trickles on to the team performance. As of writing, the Clippers sport an impressive 44-20 win-loss record for second in the West. And the end of the day, it's the wins that matter the most. And that metric alone is a great indicator if the team's stars are meshing well.
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