The LA Clippers didn’t just shake things up at the trade deadline-they flipped the table.
In a pair of moves that sent ripples through the league, the Clippers traded James Harden to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for Darius Garland, and then followed that up with a stunner: sending longtime center Ivica Zubac to the Indiana Pacers for Bennedict Mathurin, Isaiah Jackson, and two valuable draft picks. For a team that had been playing the part of contender, these weren’t just tweaks-they were tectonic shifts.
For months, teams had been calling the Clippers, hoping to pry away one of their core pieces. LA held firm-until now. These deals marked a clear pivot in direction, signaling a franchise trying to thread the needle between staying competitive and getting younger with an eye on the future.
And just like that, Kawhi Leonard is the last man standing.
After the Clippers’ recent win over the Sacramento Kings, Leonard opened up about the emotional weight of Zubac’s departure. His words weren’t just about basketball-they were about brotherhood.
“I believe he was probably about 20 or 21 years old when I first got here,” 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.”
Zubac’s growth wasn’t just about stats-it was about trust. He became the kind of big man who could anchor the defense late in games, force double-teams in the post, and give the Clippers a reliable interior presence. Leonard made it clear: Zubac earned everything he became.
“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,” Leonard added. “It's not the worst, I told him, so just enjoy his child and he'll have a chance to play for a championship.”
But make no mistake-this one hit hard.
“It’s almost like losing a brother,” Leonard said. “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.”
That kind of sentiment is telling. Zubac wasn’t just a teammate-he was part of the Clippers’ identity during a stretch where the team tried to push for a title with its veteran core.
The Harden trade, while significant, had been brewing for a while. It wasn’t a total shock.
But the Zubac deal? That one caught even those inside the building off guard.
It also raises some real questions about the Clippers’ ability to sustain their recent momentum.
And that momentum was real.
Since December 20th, when the Clippers sat at a bleak 6-21, they’ve flipped the script. Over their next 21 games, LA went 17-4-the best record in the league over that stretch. That surge thrust them back into the thick of the Western Conference play-in race, and gave the team hope that their veteran mix could still make some postseason noise.
But now, the formula has changed.
Bringing in Garland gives the Clippers a younger, dynamic guard to build around, but losing Zubac removes a pillar from their defensive structure. The front office clearly made a decision: get younger, add assets, and reset the timeline without completely bottoming out.
Leonard, always measured, understood the logic-even if it stung.
“We were just trying to get younger. We came in the year with the oldest team,” he said.
“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.”
Still, Leonard couldn’t help but reflect on what the team had started to build in recent weeks.
“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 responded to the trades with resilience, notching gritty wins over the Kings and the Timberwolves, and now face back-to-back games against the Rockets before the All-Star break. At 25-27, they currently sit in the ninth seed in the West-just a half-game ahead of Portland and 2.5 games back of the Warriors for the eighth spot.
And through it all, Leonard has been nothing short of elite.
In 39 appearances this season, he’s averaging 28 points, 6.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.1 steals, and 2.7 made threes per game while shooting 49.5% from the field and 38.9% from beyond the arc. He’s been the steady hand guiding a team through turbulence, and if the Clippers are going to stay afloat in the playoff race, he’ll need to keep doing just that.
The Clippers may not look the same, but they’re not waving the white flag. Not with Kawhi still leading the charge.
The roster’s younger, the future’s a little more flexible, and the path forward is murky-but the fight’s not over. Not yet.