LA Clippers: Ranking all five projected starters for 2020-21

1. SF Kawhi Leonard

While George endured his struggles with injury and form during his first campaign with the Clippers, Kawhi Leonard largely lived up to expectations in his debut season with the team. Leonard was named an All-Star for the fourth time and made the All-NBA Second Team for the second straight year.

Leonard averaged 27.1 points and 4.9 assists per game while sinking 88.6 percent of his free throws, all career-high marks for The Klaw. He also had a box plus/minus of 8.9, finishing third in the NBA in 2019-20.

Leonard went supernova during the postseason, averaging 28.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game. He averaged a double-double in the first round victory over the Dallas Mavericks, scoring at least 30 points in five of the six games. But he wasn’t immune to his own problems, scoring just 14 points in the Game 7 loss to the Denver Nuggets in the next round.

Any notion of George taking away from Leonard’s game has vanished. Leonard is clearly a superstar player capable of taking any team the distance.

But he couldn’t get the job done last year. Like George, Leonard has a player option for the 2021-22 season. The LA Clippers shocked the NBA with their moves in the 2019 offseason; to make them worthwhile, Kawhi Leonard is going to have to take them the distance in 2021.