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Clippers’ Kawhi Leonard draws high praise from Nuggets coach

Originally posted on NBA on ClutchPoints
By Rexwell Villas | Last updated Apr 17, 2025 1:51 AM ET

The Denver Nuggets are gearing up for the first round of the 2025 NBA Playoffs, where they will be squaring off against Kawhi Leonard and the Los Angeles Clippers. Denver will enter that series with the homecourt advantage after locking up the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference standings while the Clippers bagged the No. 5 seed.

Leonard is surely one of the main attractions of this series, and that is not lost on Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman, who’s got the task of trying to steer Denver in the postseason following the shocking firing of Michael Malone with just three games left in the 2024-25 NBA regular season.

“He’s one of the best two-way players of all time,” Adelman said about Leonard (h/t DNVR Nuggets). Without injury, I think we’d be talking about him as one of the top players to ever play the game.”

“He’s good for the game. We need more two-way guys like that.”

David Adelman on Kawhi Leonard:

"He's on of the best two-way players of all time. Without injury, I think we'd be talking about him as one of the top players to ever play the game."

"He's good for the game. We need more two-way guys like that." pic.twitter.com/2iHLWfHxYA

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) April 16, 2025

The Clippers and the Nuggets played against each other four times in the regular season, but interestingly enough, Leonard never played in any of those contests. The two-time NBA champion could have made a big difference in the regular-season series against the Nuggets, who split the matchups with the Clippers with two wins apiece.

In any case, the Nuggets are entering the NBA Playoffs with some momentum. They won all of their final three games in the regular season, including a 126-111 takedown of the Houston Rockets on the road last Sunday.

That also means that the Nuggets are undefeated so far in the post-Malone era. But the challenge for Adelman is bigger and more serious in the postseason, with the Clippers acting as a big obstacle in front of Denver, which concluded the regular season with a 50-32 win-loss record.

While the Clippers have Leonard, the Nuggets have three-time NBA Most Valuable Player (could be four-time MVP soon) Nikola Jokic, who gave Los Angeles headaches in the regular season. Jokic averaged 28.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 5.7 assists while shooting 54.2 percent from the floor and 52.4 percent from behind the arc in three appearances versus Los Angeles.

Game of the Nuggets’ series opposite the Clippers is on Saturday at Ball Arena in Denver.

This article first appeared on NBA on ClutchPoints and was syndicated with permission.

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