The Los Angeles Clippers clinched a spot in the 2025 NBA Playoffs, thanks to their thrilling 124-119 overtime win on the road over the Golden State Warriors on Sunday. Kawhi Leonard had a huge performance in that contest as well as James Harden, as the two superstars combined for 72 points.

But not to be overlooked was the solid outing of Kris Dunn, who started and produced 11 points with six assists and three steals while shooting 4-for-4 from the field and 3-for-3 from the 3-point contest.

Unfortunately for Dunn, the former Providence Friars star did not meet a certain qualification to be eligible to win a spot on the NBA's All-Defensive team.

Even though Dunn played 35 minutes against the Warriors and made 74 appearances in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, he still fell short of the 65 20-minute games or more requirement to be eligible for the award. The  31-year-old Dunn finished the regular season with only 53 such games. For what it's worth, he had nine games this season logging in 19:00 to 19:59 minutes of action on the floor.

Clippers star forward Kawhi Leonard knows a thing or two about what it takes to be a great defensive player in the league. After all, he is a two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and seven-time NBA All-Defensive Teams member. For Leonard, Dunn deserves to be given an All-NBA Defensive Team nod this season amid the latter falling short of the aforementioned requirement for the award.

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“Kris went great all year. I for sure think he should be on the All-NBA Defensive team,” the Clippers two-way star said when asked about Dunn's body of work this season, especially on defense, per Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints (h/t Law Murray of The Athletic).

“Night in, night out, he's guarding the best players and he's slowing them down. You know what I mean? Some nights they make shots but he's doing it. I'll be surprised if he's not on one. Maybe he doesn't play another minute or I don't know. Why not? What is it? About 20 minutes.”

“I guess like I said, he's been great all year. He's going home to get better. I like having him on the team,” the two-time NBA Finals MVP added.

In his first season with the Clippers, Dunn averaged 6.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.7 steals in 24.1 minutes per contest. Among players in the league who played at least 65 games and spent no fewer than 20 minutes on the floor per outing, Dunn finished third with a 106.0 defensive rating.