How Kawhi Leonard, Clippers turned things around: What's gone right during winning streak

On Dec. 18, the Los Angeles Clippers were crushed by the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder. With the loss, their 10th in their last 11 games, they fell to 6-21 on the season, which at the time was tied for the third-worst record in the NBA. 

As Christmas approached, it seemed there was no end in sight for the Clippers' misery. They were five games out of the final Play-In Tournament spot in the Western Conference, trade talk was rampant and tanking wasn't really an option because their 2026 first-round pick belongs to the Thunder. 

Two weeks later, the Clippers are beginning the New Year as the hottest team in the league. They've won six games in a row -- the NBA's longest active winning streak -- to improve to 12-21 and are now just 1½ games out of the Play-In spots in the West. Over this span, they have the best offensive rating (127.2), defensive rating (105.6) and net rating (+21.6) in the league. 

"We're still trying to get better individually and as a unit," Kawhi Leonard said after the team's win over the Utah Jazz on Thursday. "We might not be contenders but we just gotta keep fighting." 

The Clippers still have plenty of work to do to salvage something from this season, but the situation no longer looks completely hopeless. Let's take a closer look at how the Clippers have turned things around lately, and whether this resurgence is sustainable. 

Kawhi has reminded everyone of his brilliance

Since 2017, the last time he reached the 70-game mark, Kawhi Leonard has played in 358 of a possible 669 regular season games (53.5%) for the San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors and Los Angeles Clippers. You may not know when Leonard is going to suit up, but when he does, there are few players you'd rather have. 

His recent play has been a strong reminder of his place in the league's hierarchy when he's fully healthy. 

During the winning streak, the 34-year-old Leonard is averaging 39 points, 8.5 rebounds, four assists, 2.7 steals and 1.5 blocks on 53.2/44.1/93.5 shooting splits. He has three 40-point games in that span, including a career-high 55 points in the Clippers' win over the Eastern Conference-leading Pistons on Dec. 28. 

If you take only the last five games into account, Leonard joined Kobe Bryant as the only players in league history to have a five-game span where they averaged 40-plus points on 50/40/90 shooting splits with a perfect record, per Opta Sports. 

Notably, Leonard has attempted as many shots in the restricted area (29) in the last six games as he did in his first 17 games this season. He's made 75.9% of them, and has thrown down nine dunks, which is a telling sign that he feels healthy and trusts his body. Just look at this slam against the Trail Blazers. 

Leonard is also taking more 3s than ever before. Against the Jazz, he took a career-high 16 attempts, and during the six-game winning streak is shooting 44.1% on 9.8 attempts a night. After the Clippers' win over the Rockets, Leonard said he's trying to "get as many 3s up as possible."

Since the winning streak began, the Clippers have outscored their opponents by 117 points in 230 minutes with Leonard on the floor. For the season, the Clippers are 10-13 with Leonard in the lineup and 2-8 without him. When he's on the floor, they have a +2.7 net rating, and when he sits it plummets to -5.5. 

"Finally getting healthy, finally being able to play enough minutes to be very, very effective. When he's healthy, he's one of the top guys in the league," Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after Leonard's career-high effort. "We've been able to see that as of late." 

As always, though, "when he's healthy" is a major qualifier for Leonard. Can he stay on the floor consistently over the next three-plus months? The answer will likely determine whether the Clippers are able to grab a postseason spot. 

3-point luck?

Since Lue took over as head coach of the Clippers in 2020, the team has never finished higher than 14th in 3-point attempts per game, but has also never finished worse than seventh in 3-point percentage. Early this season, they were staying true to their inside-out approach, but were not hitting enough 3s to make up for the lack of volume. 

During their six-game winning streak, however, they've flipped a switch. Their 3-point attempts are way up -- their 51 3-point attempts in their win over the Jazz on Thursday were the second-most in franchise history -- and they've made at least 14 3s in each win. 

Just look at the difference:

"If they're good shots," Lue said, when asked if he wanted his team taking as many 3s as they did against the Jazz. "You gotta take those shots, that's the way the game is being played nowadays."

Leonard, Brook Lopez, Nicolas Batum, Kris Dunn, John Collins and Kobe Sanders are all shooting at least 38.5% on two or more attempts per game during the winning streak. Ironically, James Harden (30% on 8.3 attempts per game) is the one key contributor who has been ice cold in this span. 

As a team, the Clippers are shooting a league-best 50.5% on wide-open (closest defender six-plus feet away) 3s and 38.5% (fourth-best) on pull-up 3s over the last six games. Worringly, though, they're tied for 15th in wide-open 3 attempts per game (19) and 2nd in pull-up 3s (13). It's difficult to have sustained efficiency on that type of shot diet. 

The Clippers have also completely turned around their 3-point defense. They went from the worst 3-point defense in the league over the first 27 games to the best during this winning streak. 

Getting Derrick Jones Jr. back from a knee injury has certainly helped their 3-point defense, as has playing the Rockets, Kings and Pistons, who are 30th, 29th and 28th, respectively, in 3-point attempts per game. Additionally, teams are just missing open shots. 

Here's a look at the Clippers' opponents' wide-open 3-point shooting:

And the Clippers' opponents' open (closest defender four-to-six feet away) 3-point shooting:

The Clippers are giving up about the same number of wide-open and open 3s during this winning streak as they did earlier in the season, but opponents are making them at a significantly lower rate. The drop-off in opponent open 3-point percentage, in particular, is stunning.

While the Clippers were unlucky early in the season, they've been extremely lucky during the winning streak. It will be interesting to see how they fare in their next three games, which are against the Celtics, Warriors and Knicks -- all 3-point heavy offenses. 

Yanic and Kobe

The Clippers went all-in on experience this offseason. They brought in Bradley Beal, Chris Paul, Lopez and Collins, and re-signed Harden and Batum. On opening night, they had the oldest roster in NBA history, with an average age of 33.2 years. 

Almost immediately, the plan fell apart. The Clippers looked completely out of place in the modern NBA, which is becoming faster and more athletic with each passing year. Experience isn't worth much if you can't keep up with your opponents. Beal ended up playing just six games before being ruled out for the season with a hip injury, while Paul was banished from the team early last month. 

With Beal and Paul gone, and others in and out of the lineup due to injuries, Lue has had to turn to rookies Yanic Konan Niederhäuser and Kobe Sanders -- their first- and second-round selections in the 2025 NBA Draft. That duo, which combined for 16 points, 14 rebounds, four assists, a steal and two blocks on 7-of-14 shooting in the Clippers' win over the Jazz on Thursday, has given the team a much-needed boost of youth and athleticism. 

"I thought his energy, just being able to sprint the pick-and-rolls and get out of the rolls fast enough to get behind the defense, was good," Lue said about Niederhäuser after he put up 16 points and six rebounds in their win over the Kings. "I thought he was really good defensively at the rim, either blocking shots or altering shots. His energy -- running the floor, pick-and-rolls, getting off of it. He has done a really good job, and he is only going to get better."

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During the six-game winning streak, Niederhäuser is putting up 5.4 points, 4.4 rebounds and one block on 61.1% shooting in 18.4 minutes per game, while Sanders is contributing 6.5 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists on 55.6% shooting in 18.8 minutes a night. 

It will be interesting to see if either rookie remains in the rotation once Ivica Zubac and Bogdan Bogdanovic are healthy, but it may be wise for Lue to find them some minutes. They've both proven that they can help on certain nights, at least during the regular season.