The LA Clippers made a couple of surprising moves at the NBA trade deadline, first sending star guard James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a trade for Darius Garland. The second move might've been even more surprising, with the Clippers trading Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, and a couple of valuable draft picks.
The moves sent shockwaves throughout the league, given how many teams who had been calling the Clippers for months about trading for their best players only to be rebuffed.
It now means that Kawhi Leonard is the longest tenured Clipper and sort of the “last man standing” from the last couple of years.
After the Clippers' game against the Sacramento Kings, Leonard spoke with members of the media, where he broke down just how he felt after the trade of Ivica Zubac.
“I believe he was probably about 20 or 21 years old when I first got here,” Kawhi Leonard said. “He was maybe in his third year in the league, so he just kept working and over time he got to the guy that stayed in the fourth quarter and hold down the fort for us in the paint. Also got very skilled in the post, causing double-teams on the mismatch or on guys his size. He had a great development, he's playing well, and he'll still have a chance to win in Indiana when Tyrese gets back and they get their whole group in full. It's not the worst, I told him, so just enjoy his child and he'll have a chance to play for a championship.”
The trade sending James Harden to the Cleveland Cavs had been in the works for some time, and so while it was a bit of a surprise, it also wasn't completely unexpected.
Ivica Zubac's trade to the Indiana Pacers, however, came as a painful shock to everyone within the organization.
“It’s almost like losing a brother,” Leonard added. “We see these people, the players around here more than we see our families, in a sense, throughout the NBA season. just somebody that will be missed. Like you said, I played a lot of games with him, a lot of battles. He’s a face that we’re gonna miss in the locker room.”
Since December 20th, when the team was 6-21 on the season, Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers flipped the season and run off 17 wins over their next 21 games. The 17-4 stretch was the best record in the NBA during that time, and put them firmly in the fight for a spot in the NBA play-in tournament.
Harden's trade re-shifted the Clippers' focus to getting a little younger and remaining competitive with a guy like Darius Garland. The Zubac trade, however, does put some question marks on the Clippers' ability to compete at a high level for the rest of this season.
Having come into the 2025-26 season as the oldest team in NBA history, Leonard understood the need for the franchise to get younger with star talent while also accruing assets that they simply haven't had the chance to obtain.
“We were just trying to get younger. We came in the year with the oldest team. 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. 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. 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.”
The Clippers have earned two hard-fought victories over the Sacramento Kings and Minnesota Timberwolves coming out of the NBA trade deadline, with two more games remaining against the Houston Rockets before the NBA All-Star break.
Entering Monday, the Clippers hold a record of 25-27 and are the ninth seed in the Western Conference. They sit just a half-game ahead of the Blazers for the 10-seed and 2.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors for the eighth seed.
In 39 appearances this season, Kawhi Leonard is averaging 28 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.7 three-pointers made per game while shooting 49.5 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from three.
