Kawhi Leonard Named All-Star Replacement, Extending Stellar Season Amid Clippers' Turnaround
The All-Star stage will indeed feature a hometown star this month at Intuit Dome. Kawhi Leonard is heading back to the NBA All-Star Game, earning his seventh career selection - and fourth as a member of the LA Clippers - after being named by commissioner Adam Silver as a replacement to round out the United States player pool.
Leonard, a Southern California native from Moreno Valley, was initially left off the list of Western Conference reserves announced Sunday, selections made by NBA head coaches. But with the player pool needing to hit the minimum of 16, Leonard got the nod - and it’s hard to argue he hasn’t earned it.
This marks another milestone in Leonard’s quietly dominant run. He first made the All-Star cut in 2016 and 2017 with the San Antonio Spurs, then again in 2020 - his first season in LA - when he also took home All-Star Game MVP honors. That came fresh off his 2019 championship-winning campaign with the Toronto Raptors, a season that cemented his reputation as one of the league’s most clutch postseason performers.
Fast forward to this season, and Leonard is once again putting together a campaign worthy of elite recognition - even if it took a commissioner’s call to get him there.
Let’s rewind for a second. The Clippers opened the season in a tailspin, dropping 21 of their first 27 games, including a brutal 3-19 stretch over seven weeks.
But Leonard has been central to the team’s midseason surge, helping LA win 17 of its last 22 games. Since December 20, he’s been on a tear, averaging 30.2 points per game - the fourth-highest mark in the league over that span, trailing only All-Stars Luka Dončić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Anthony Edwards.
Leonard’s impact hasn’t just been on the offensive end. He’s also averaging 2.2 steals per game during that same stretch, ranking third in the league behind January’s Eastern Conference Defensive Player of the Month Ausar Thompson and fellow All-Star Tyrese Maxey. That two-way dominance is vintage Kawhi - the kind of play that earned him two Defensive Player of the Year awards earlier in his career.
On the season, Leonard is putting up career-best numbers in several key areas. He’s averaging a personal-high 27.6 points per game, along with 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and a league-leading 2.1 steals.
He’s also shooting the lights out: 49.7 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from three, and a career-best 91.3 percent from the free-throw line. Add in a career-high 2.8 made threes per game, and you’ve got a player who’s not just efficient - he’s surgical.
But Leonard’s All-Star selection doesn’t come without some off-court noise. The league is still conducting an investigation into the Clippers’ dealings with Aspiration, a situation that involves allegations of salary-cap circumvention tied to Leonard.
Meanwhile, LA is also managing the uncertainty around James Harden, who reportedly wants out again. Harden’s contract situation, combined with the team’s current 23-26 record - good for ninth in the Western Conference - adds another layer of complexity to the Clippers’ outlook.
Still, amid all the chaos, Leonard has been the constant. A steadying force on both ends of the court, he’s helped pull the Clippers out of an early-season nosedive and reminded everyone why he remains one of the most complete players in the league.
And now, he’s back where he belongs: among the NBA’s elite, on All-Star weekend - this time, in front of a hometown crowd.