The arrival of two veteran stars in Kawhi Leonard and Paul George last season was always going to change the team dynamics of the Los Angeles Clippers. It was just a matter of whether the change was for better or worse.
The different vibe affected three of their most prominent holdovers in Lou Williams, Patrick Beverley, and Montrezl Harrell in their 2019-2020 campaign, as per The Athletic‘s Jovan Buha's league sources.
They were all previously revered as the important pieces of the team during the 2018-2019 season. Both Williams and Beverley also emerged as the leaders of the team two years ago. Williams tends to be more reserved but would still exhibit his authority while Beverley would prefer to lead in a rather straightforward manner.
Both Leonard and George weren't the same vocal leaders as Williams and Beverley and would opt to lead by example instead. It eventually caused problems for the Clippers as Williams and Beverley eventually knew that they had to take a step back with the star duo's presence within the team but the two wouldn't dare to take on an active leadership role either.
“Who did they look to as the guy that was going to bring them all together?” one league source said to Brace Hemmelgarn of USA Today. “It can’t be the coach all the time.”
The team's approach also changed as they became more stern and serious last season as compared to when they were more energetic and would still crack jokes from time to time during the 2018-2019 season.
After a disappointing campaign in the 2019-2020 season, the Clippers knew that they still have many rooms for improvement especially in the area of determining the true leader of the team.
Hopefully, the new regime led by head coach Tyronn Lue would bring the team together as they aim to attain more success in the upcoming season.
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