Los Angeles Clippers head coach Doc Rivers has one of the NBA's best talents suddenly thrust onto his roster in All-Star Kawhi Leonard.

Rivers likened Leonard, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year at the age of 28, to former player Kevin Garnett. With the Celtics, Garnett won his first and only Defensive Player of the Year award under Rivers, en route to the franchise's first NBA championship in 22 years.

Per Gary Washburn in the Boston Globe:

“From afar, [Kawhi Leonard] reminds me a lot of Kevin [Garnett],” Rivers said. “He reminds me of a quiet version of Kevin. Imagine a Kevin Garnett that didn’t talk — his actions are why we followed Kevin. As verbal as Kevin was and as expressive as he was, if he didn’t follow through with his actions, none of that verbal stuff would have worked. So to me, from afar, he reminds me a lot of Kevin that way in that he tends to want to show you by example. That’s the best leadership.”

Asked about managing the two-time Finals MVP Leonard, the former Boston Celtics coach had no definitive course of action yet:

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“I don’t go into it knowing one way or another. My job is to get to know him first and how he plays, what makes him play better and how well he makes the team play better,” Rivers said. “We have a group of guys in my opinion from afar that fit [Leonard and George]. Tough, gritty mind-set, with Lou [Williams] and Pat Beverley and Montrezl [Harrell]. We have a lot of guys that kind of fit each other, but you get into the gym and you don’t know if it fits or not. I like the group and I like how they’re constructed.”

One concern facing the Clippers is Leonard only appeared in 60 games for the now-reigning champs Toronto Raptors during the 2018-19 season. With a loaded Western Conference this time around, though, Kawhi will be expected to participate in the regular season a wee bit more. Leonard is also more than a year removed from a quad injury, which was the impetus for his relationship with the San Antonio Spurs souring, leading to the trade to Toronto.