It's too early to suggest that the Los Angeles Clippers are flirting with another ugly playoff collapse or early-round exit. But if the franchise ultimately fails to live up to the championship-or-bust expectations this summer, is it possible that superstar Kawhi Leonard packs up and takes his talents elsewhere?
Former NBA player and current Memphis Grizzlies analyst Brevin Knight believes so.
"He enjoys being close to home. Everybody talks about that. But if he can find... if there's another situation that he feels would be best, I could see him leaving," Knight told The Zach Gelb Show on Monday. "I've just always had this feeling with the Clippers that, no matter what has happened with the amount of money they've been able to spend for their team, with the change in ownership, with all that has happened, it just feels like there's always one thing that's missing. They're always one thing that's missing away.
"And I think [head coach] Tyronn Lue -- who I love as a person, as a coach, he's done a good job where he's been -- that's the task he's been hit with: figuring out what that missing thing is, that just hasn't allowed them to get over the hump. Because they've had a plethora of talent walk through their doors. Just hasn't been able to be put together yet... It's cohesion -- that's the biggest thing. It has nothing to do with talent. It has nothing to do with if you have a guy who can coach. They have everything.
"If you don't play together enough in the NBA, when you start to play high-level basketball, there are things that become intuitive that happen without you having to worry about it, because you're accustomed to doing it together. I just don't think they have enough of that to be consistent on the basketball court. So, I don't think it's a player. It's not a scheme. I just think it's the lack of time playing together, and now you're playing against really good teams."
Leonard, who's in the second year of a three-year, $103 million contract that includes a $36 million player option for the 2021-22 season, led the Clippers in points per game (24.8), steals (1.6), and minutes (34.1) during the regular season. The expectation is that the 29-year-old California native will opt out this summer and sign a new free agent deal with Los Angeles.
The Clippers, which entered the playoffs as the West's fourth seed and with a league-high 43-percent chance to reach the NBA Finals per FiveThirtyEight's projections, dropped Game 1 against the fifth-seed Dallas Mavericks, 113-103, on Saturday night at Staples Center.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will take place on Tuesday night, with tipoff scheduled for 10:30 p.m. ET.
The entire conversation between Knight and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.