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It's almost playoff time for the Los Angeles Lakers, a team that's been rejuvenated by the addition of Luka Doncic in a trade that remains the most confounding deal of all time in all of professional sports.
What makes the Lakers so scary of a matchup in the NBA playoffs is that there may not be a more terrifying duo in the NBA at present than the duo of Doncic and LeBron James — two of the greatest players to ever grace the league.
However, retired NBA player turned podcaster Jeff Teague believes that there is a more frightening duo to face in the playoffs than that of the Doncic-James partnership. According to Teague, he will take the Los Angeles Clippers duo of Kawhi Leonard and James Harden over the Lakers pair.
“I like that duo (Harden and Kawhi) beating Bron and Luka. Bron's 50! Kawhi can guard Luka. James and Luka cancel each other out. Obviously, Luka is better because he's younger and can do more. They can get you similar stats… Playoff Kawhi vs. 40-year-old LeBron? I'm rolling with Kawhi,” Teague said on the most recent episode of the Club 520 podcast.
The major caveat with Leonard, as is usually the case, is his health. He hasn't completed an entire playoff run in four years, but when healthy, Leonard, especially this season, looks as though he can lead the Clippers to a deep playoff run.
While many fans will be pushing back against this take from Teague, this should not be considered as an asinine opinion in any capacity. Many would still take the Lakers' star duo since they carry with them far fewer risks than the Clippers pair, but at their best, this at least warrants a serious discussion.
Potential Lakers-Clippers playoff matchup to wait until Conference Finals
In 2020, it looked as though the Lakers and Clippers were on a collision course to battle for LA supremacy in the bubble. But the Clippers choked everything away, and the two teams still haven't met each other in the postseason throughout the course of NBA history.
If the two teams are to meet in this year's playoffs, it will also have to wait until the Conference Finals as they are on the opposite sides of the bracket. Both the Lakers and Clippers, however, will have to run the gauntlet to meet one another, as the former will be taking on the Minnesota Timberwolves and the latter will be clashing against the Denver Nuggets in the first round.
