Biggest takeaways from Clippers Media Day 2024

Kawhi Leonard speaks on Clippers Media Day

Kawhi Leonard spoke about his injury update and thoughts on Paul George's departure during NBA Media Day at the Intuit Dome.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Los Angeles Clippers enter a new season knowing the odds are stacked against them and are prepared to hit rough waters, but they’re not letting the outside noise dictate their mindset or how hard they play the game. With a new arena, a new logo, new threads and some new faces, they head into training camp knowing what matters most is how much they believe in themselves.

With the 213 era dead and gone, the pressure of being a championship-or-bust team is no longer the expectation, and instead, they are seemingly back to embracing an underdog mentality.

"I think it's more us knowing who we are, and we're going to be a real competitive team. We've got a lot of dogs on our roster. So I'm excited for that. You know, I go to war with a lot of the guys that we picked up," Terance Mann said.

The early predictions are out, and some outlets doubt if the Clips can even be a .500 team.

Mann, a fan-favorite who just signed a contract extension, called the predictions "B.S."

"We are all competitors and we're ready to go. And, you know, we see this stuff, so we're hungry. And that's a scary team. When everyone's hungry like that, you know, a lot of [us] want to prove people wrong."

"A lot of outsiders…or whatever you want to call them, don't really have high expectations for us, but we have high expectations for ourselves. To me, individually, I've never missed the playoffs in my entire career, so I feel like our entire team, we got a lot to prove."

Also, Harden said there's no time to waste and, despite the changes, the team must hit the ground running.

"We don't have time and patience. We've got to get to it now," Harden said. "We've got to get off to a really good start. In these last few weeks, I've been in the gym with these guys. We are conditioning and running crazy and preparing ourselves," Harden said. "We've got to get ourselves to a good start and make our name and our presence known at the beginning and carry that with us the entire season."

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How Much Can James Harden Bear?

With Kawhi Leonard’s injury status up in the air, there’s no question that 35-year-old James Harden will be at the helm taking on more responsibilities.

That means "scoring the basketball more and taking more shots," Tyronn Lue said. "[Harden’s] a dynamic playmaker also. With the responsibility of being the best players being Kawhi [Leonard] and James [Harden] they got to make everyone else better as well."

Also, it’s not just Leonard’s availability, but it’s Paul George’s absence, and the addition of new faces such as Derrick Jones Jr., Mo Bamba, Kai Jones, Kevin Porter Jr., (awaiting NBA suspension status) and Kris Dunn. Also, Jordan Miller and Kobe Brown were outstanding during the Summer League and hope to crack the rotation during their sophomore seasons.

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"When you lose a player of PG’S [Paul George] caliber, it’s always tough to replace that kind of player. We understand it on both sides of the basketball. With that being said, James [Harden] and Kawhi [Leonard] are our focus offensively, of course Norm [Norman Powell], but post Zu [Ivica Zubac] a little bit more. Everyone else has to fit in around us to make sure we have the right spacing, the right guys with the ball in their hands making the right plays so that has to be our main focus now."

Leonard and Harden have a lot of respect for each other and Leonard said he likes that the two have the same mentality.

"He came in last year wanting to win, saying that he wanted to sacrifice and do the things we needed to do to win games. So, you know, going into this year, he has that same mindset. You just want another guy on your team that's like-minded and just, you know, willing to do anything it takes to win."

"As a leader, there's been a lot of situations where we made people believe in us. So, I feel like this is an opportunity. We got a lot of guys in the locker room..so I'm excited for what we have," Harden said.

While he relishes as a team leader, he expects everyone else to step up this season.

"It's going to be a team effort. You know, you got a lot of guys who can contribute. And I'm excited for Zu[Ivica Zubac] being better offensively having more impact. Obviously, we know what Norm [Norman Powell] can do. And then we got a couple other guys, you know me and Derrick Jones and and Nico [Batum] and TMann [Terance Mann] and Amir [Coffey] just all those guys.’

What’s going on with Kawhi Leonard?

This is a wait-and-see situation.

The Clippers want their superstar healthy not just for the postseason, but for the longevity of his career. In January, he agreed to a three-year contract extension worth a reported $153 million.

Last week, the team got it over with and announced that for now, they are holding off their superstar from drill work at the start of training camp. On Monday, Leonard said inflammation in his right knee may be something he deals with for the duration of his career.

Still, he’s motivated to play and hopes he'll be able to suit up in time for Opening Night.

"Yeah, that’s the plan," Leonard said. "It’s just about my body. I’m a human being and we’re playing basketball. So, it all depends on what we want and what we figure out and how my body’s feeling. But, we’re taking it day by day."

"I went from zero games to 52 to 68. So, I’ll see if I can keep it going," he added.

A Home of Their Own

The Intuit Dome brings a new energy and finally, the Clippers will have a true feel of home-court advantage.

"I'm ready to go and I'm excited to open up this new arena on the 23rd. I know the guys are and we've been enjoying getting used to the facility, seeing everything Clippers, which is nice. You have your own home. You know, you're not sharing it with all the different teams and seeing different logos and having different walkways," Norman Powell said.

LA Clippers react to Intuit Dome at grand opening

Mo Bamba, Derrick Jones Jr., Cam Christie and Kai Jones shared their excitement on the red carpet at Intuit Dome’s grand opening night.

Leonard said he’s relieved he will no longer have to feel like being on the "third or fourth most important team in the building," saying "It just feels like home base rather than you being a roommate."

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Training camp is now in session with their first preseason game scheduled for Saturday,Oct. 5 in Honolulu against Golden State.

The Clippers' inaugural Opening Night at the Intuit Dome is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 23 against the Phoenix Suns.