clippers

MINNEAPOLIS — Kawhi Leonard had 41 points and eight rebounds and the Clippers beat the slumping Minnesota Timberwolves 115-96 on Sunday.

John Collins had 15 points on six-of-nine shooting, and Yanic Konan Niederhauser also scored 15 points. The Clippers took command with a 17-3 run closing out the third quarter.

Anthony Edwards led Minnesota with 23 points, and Julius Randle had 17. The Timberwolves have lost three of their last four, all to sub-.500 opponents. Minnesota made just eight of 33 three-point attempts and committed 20 turnovers while being held under 100 points for just the second time this season.

Ayo Dosunmu, making his Timberwolves debut after being acquired in a trade with Chicago, had 11 points and two steals.

The Timberwolves were coming off one of their most frustrating losses of the season, when they blew an 18-point third-quarter lead in a home loss to the lowly New Orleans Pelicans.

The first half was more of the same for Minnesota. Leonard scored 24 points and helped key an 18-2 run late in the second quarter that give the Clippers a 54-42 lead.

The Clippers played without their two key trade deadline acquisitions. Darius Garland, who arrived from Cleveland in the James Harden trade, remained sidelined with a sprained big toe on his right foot. The Clippers had already said wingman Bennedict Mathurin, picked up in a swap with the Pacers, wouldn’t join his new team until Tuesday in Houston.

SACRAMENTO — Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points, grabbed nine rebounds and had seven assists to lead the Clippers to a 114-111 victory over Sacramento on Friday night, sending the Kings to their 11th straight loss.

John Collins added 22 points and Brook Lopez and Kris Dunn each had 15 for the Clippers, who ended a two-game skid.

Darius Garland, acquired from Cleveland earlier in the week, remained out. He hasn’t played since Jan. 14 because of a sprained big toe on his right foot.

Malik Monk had 18 points to lead Sacramento, which hasn’t won since beating Washington at home on Jan. 16. Nique Clifford had 16 points and Dylan Cardwell and Devin Carter each had 14 for the Kings. De’Andre Hunter, also acquired from the Cavaliers this week, had six points in his second game for Sacramento.

The Clippers went into halftime trailing 49-48, but took the lead for good with 9:50 left in the fourth quarter on a 3-pointer from Lopez to make it 86-84.

Up next

Clippers: At Minnesota on Sunday.

Kings: Host Cleveland on Saturday night.

The Clippers have acquired high-scoring wing Bennedict Mathurin, center Isaiah Jackson and two draft picks from the Indiana Pacers for center Ivica Zubac, a person with knowledge of the deal not authorized to speak publicly on the matter said Thursday.

Los Angeles will receive Indiana’s protected 2026 first-round draft pick and a 2029 first-round pick. This year’s selection is protected if the Pacers have a top four selection or if it falls between selections 10 and 30.

The Pacers get the center they’ve needed since losing Myles Turner in free agency last summer. Zubac, who will turn 29 next month, is signed through the 2027-28 season and was a second team Allll-Defensive team selection last year. He’s averaging 14.4 points and 11.0 rebounds while shooting 61.3% from the field.

Mathurin, 23, was set to become a restricted free agent next summer, and it wasn’t clear if the Pacers could afford to keep him. He recently returned from toe and thumb injuries that kept him out for most of January. He’s averaging 17.8 points and 5.4 rebounds this season and has improved significantly as a defender during his fourth season.

Jackson has started 14 times in 38 games this season and is averaging 6.4 points and 5.6 rebounds while shooting 58.2% from the field.

The move comes just days after the Clippers also traded James Harden to Cleveland for Darius Garland in a swap of point guard and adds more draft picks to Los Angeles’ growing stockpile of selections.

Darius Garland could not have been more in transition than he was Wednesday night on his first day with his new team.

Officially traded earlier in the day from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Clippers for 11-time All-Star James Harden, Garland talked about his upheaval during halftime of Wednesday’s game between his current and former teams, a game the Cavaliers won, 124-91.

“I knew about it. It wasn’t a shock, though,” the two-time All-Star said. “It’s the business of basketball. Cleveland was great to me and my family, and I have respect for all of those guys over there. … Seven years was a really long time, and it was great. I’m glad I’m here now. The next chapter in my book.”

Garland has been out since Jan. 16 with a big toe sprain on his right foot, and the Clippers have no timetable for his debut. But coach Tyronn Lue expects to implement a new game plan once the 26-year-old point guard is on the floor. Garland said he’s ready to go and waiting for the OK to play.

“He’s different from James and we can play different with a faster pace,” Lue said. “We can play him off the ball more. It’s going to be exciting. I’ve known DG for a while and having a young point guard under my tutelage, I think it’s the first time I have had one since Kyrie (Irving).”

Garland played more than 70 games just once in his seven seasons because of injuries. He’s on pace to play 42 games this season.

Garland’s uncertain availability, and the Cavaliers’ need to get star Donovan Mitchell more scoring help, motivated Cleveland to swap their young floor leader for Harden, who is 10 years older.

Cleveland got the scorer it needed, and one who can also run the point, while the Clippers managed to get younger as they head toward an offseason without a first-round draft pick.

Cavaliers coach Kenny Atkinson called Garland one of his favorite players. Yet that bond was not tight enough to prevent the deal for Harden, an 11-time All-Star and the player with the second-most three-pointers in NBA history.

“Those are the toughest calls you have to make, but he goes up on my favorites list,” Atkinson said. “I’m going to miss him. We had a great relationship.”

Atkinson seemed to take comfort in handing Garland off to Lue, who is known for getting the most out of his players.

“Ty is going to be great for Darius,” Atkinson said. “Ty was a point guard himself and understands the position. You know, my relationship with Darius, and to lose it, is kind of a tough day. But the positive is that he is coming to the Clippers and he will be with Ty. I expect him to be great here and I’m rooting for him.”

It might not have been the change Garland was looking, for but he was starting to embrace the possibilities of teaming with Kawhi Leonard.

“I hope T-Lue uses me like he did Kyrie in that championship run they had (in Cleveland),” said Garland, whose father Winston Garland played 1 1/2 seasons with the Clippers in the early 1990s. “But whatever T-Lue wants me to be, whatever position he wants me to be in, I’m going to do that. I’m here to win games.”

During Wednesday’s loss, Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and John Collins had 19 points for the Clippers, who lost consecutive games for the first time since a five-game losing streak in December.

Rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored 10 points and had eight rebounds for the Clippers, who are 17-5 since Dec. 20, although most of that success was with Harden. The Clippers were also without starting center Ivica Zubac, who was out for the birth of his child.

Harden, an 11-time All-Star, was traded for the fifth time in his career after two and a half seasons at the LA Clippers.

The Cavaliers and Clippers ‌have finalised a trade that sends ‍11-time All-Star James ‍Harden to Cleveland, with Darius Garland and a second-round pick going to Los Angeles, ESPN and The Athletic both reported late on Tuesday.

Harden, 36, ⁠was held out of the Clippers’ lineup the ​last two games for what the team labelled ‍personal reasons.

The former NBA MVP and three-time scoring champ is averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds in ‍44 games this ⁠season, his 17th in the NBA.

Harden could block any trade because he is technically under contract for just this season, which requires his approval for the swap. The second year of his two-year, $81.5m deal is a player ​option, which is not fully guaranteed.

Garland, ‌26, has been sidelined since January 14 with a Grade 1 right toe sprain.

The two-time All-Star is averaging 18.0 points ‌and 6.9 assists over 26 games this season. He is in the third ‌year of a five-year, $197.2m ⁠contract.

The Cavaliers (30-21) are in contention in the Eastern Conference, one of four teams with either 30 or 31 wins behind first-place ‌Detroit (36-12), which explains the desire to make a big move by acquiring Harden.

The Clippers, 23-26, remain in ‍play-in contention in the West, currently in ninth place.

The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3pm ‌ET (20:00 GMT).

James Harden is headed to the Cleveland Cavaliers, with the Clippers agreeing to send the 11-time All-Star back to the Eastern Conference during his highest-scoring season in six years, a person with knowledge of the agreement said Tuesday night.

The Cavaliers are giving up point guard Darius Garland and a second-round pick, said the person, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade has not yet been approved by the NBA.

That approval could come by Wednesday, when the Cavaliers and Clippers face off at Intuit Dome.

Harden is averaging 25.4 points this season, his most since averaging 34.3 points in 2019-20. He’s been a huge part of the Clippers’ resurgence back into playoff — or, at least, play-in — contention after a dismal 6-21 start.

“He means a lot to our team and we’ve seen it the last three years,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said Monday night when stories began breaking indicating such a move was close. “Who wouldn’t want to have James Harden?”

Cleveland will become Harden’s sixth team. He played for Oklahoma City, then Houston, then Brooklyn, then Philadelphia and, since 2023, the Clippers.

For the Cavaliers, it seems to be a move for right now — pairing the 36-year-old Harden with another star guard in Donovan Mitchell. For the Clippers, it seems to be a move with an eye on the future — the 26-year-old Garland is a two-time All-Star, averaging 18 points and 6.9 assists this season for Cleveland.

Harden opted out of the final year of his contract last summer with the Clippers to sign a new deal that would have been worth $81.5 million for this season and the 2026-27 campaign. Next year is at his option, which basically meant he was on a one-year contract.

He got that deal after averaging 22.8 points, 5.8 rebounds and 8.7 assists while returning to the All-NBA team for the first time since 2019-20.

James Harden has played a key role in helping the Clippers become one of the NBA’s hottest teams over the last six weeks despite a disastrous start to their season. He may not be around, however, to see how the rest of the season unfolds.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that Harden and the Clippers working to find a suitable deal that would send him to another team by Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.

Many of those reports mention a possible trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, swapping Harden in exchange for guard Darius Garland. Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated described discussions between the two teams as “advanced.”

The Clippers play the Cavaliers in Cleveland on Wednesday.

Harden, 36, had 25 points and nine assists in 34 minutes during the Clippers’ 122-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets on Friday but has not played in the team’s two games since. The Clippers have attributed Harden’s absence to personal reasons.

The trade reports involving Harden broke Monday during the Clippers’ 128-113 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Crypto.com Arena. Coach Tyronn Lue was asked about the matter during his news conference after the game.

“I can’t comment on rumors,” Lue said. “Sorry.”

After the game, Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard told Joey Linn of Linn Sports media he was surprised by the Harden reports.

“I respect his decision or whoever’s decision it is, and that’s it,” Leonard said. “I mean, he’s still gonna be my boy and, you know, I trust the front office.”

Clippers forward John Collins called the news “shocking.” Asked by Linn if he would be disappointed to see Harden leave at this point in the season, Collins answered, “Hell yeah.”

Brett Siegel of ClutchPoints reports that Harden initiated the trade talks and “the Clippers were stunned to find out about him wanting out.” The two sides have been discussing a possible parting for weeks, according to Siegel.

This past offseason, Harden signed a two-year, $81-million deal to remain with the Clippers. The second year was said to be a player option and is partially guaranteed. Harden has the power to veto any trade, according to ESPN.

Harden is an 11-time All-Star who was named the league MVP in 2018. He has played for five teams, including the Clippers since 2023, and is averaging 25.4 points, 8.1 assists and 4.8 rebounds in his 17th NBA season.

Garland is a 26-year-old two-time All Star who has averaged 18.8 points, 2.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists during his seven NBA seasons. His contract expires in the summer of 2028. He has not played since Jan. 14 because of a Grade 1 sprain of his right big toe.

The Clippers were 6-21 after a 122-101 loss to Oklahoma City on Dec. 18. Since then, however, they have won 17 of 22 games to pull into a potential play-in spot (ninth place) in the Western Conference playoff standings.

Lue was asked Monday if Harden was someone he would like to continue to have on the team for a possible playoff run and beyond.

“Who wouldn’t want to have James Harden?” Lue said.

Tyrese Maxey scored 29 points, including seven 3-pointers, Dominick Barlow added 26 points and 16 rebounds, and the Philadelphia 76ers beat the Clippers 128-113 on Monday night for their fourth consecutive victory.

The game featured two big names who weren’t selected as All-Star reserves: Joel Embiid of the Sixers and Kawhi Leonard of the Clippers.

Embiid had 24 points as he continues to gain full strength after a right ankle injury. The Sixers improved to 11-10 without Paul George, who is serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA’s anti-drug program.

Leonard led the Clippers with 29 points and Jordan Miller had 21 points off the bench.

The Clippers were without James Harden, who missed his second straight game due to personal reasons. Coach Tyronn Lue said before the game that Harden was at home in Phoenix.

Leonard had two dunks and a three-pointer in the fourth, but the Clippers couldn’t put together a sustained run and he finished the game on the bench.

Maxey, Barlow and Embiid combined to score 22 points in the third when the Sixers were outscored 34-28, but still led 100-87.

The Sixers led the entire game, going up by 23 points before settling for a 72-53 halftime advantage.

The Clippers are 8-3 over their last 11 games as they try to stay within range of at least making the play-in tournament.

PHOENIX — Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and the Clippers, playing without James Harden, routed the Phoenix Suns 117-93 on Sunday night.

Leonard, who was left off the Western Conference All-Star reserves announced earlier Sunday, had eight rebounds as well as his 27th consecutive game with 20 or more points. Ivica Zubac had 20 rebounds as the Clippers bounced back from a loss at Denver on Friday and dominated the inside, outrebounding Phoenix 63-35 and outscoring the Suns 64-18 in the paint.

Jordan Miller had 20 points, John Collins scored 16, Zubac had 14 and Kobe Sanders had 12 for the Clippers, who shot 51.8% from the field. Sanders started for Harden, who missed the game for personal reasons.

Since starting the season 6-21, the Clippers have won 17 of 21 and are just two games under .500. The Suns had won three straight before Sunday, and are still 15-7 since Dec. 21.

Grayson Allen led the Suns with 23 points and eight assists, and Dillon Brooks scored 22 points. Phoenix shot just 33.3% from the field and was held under 100 points for just the sixth time in 50 games this season. Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin each finished with 12 points.

The Suns were without Devin Booker (right ankle sprain) and Jalen Green (right hamstring, left hip). Booker was selected as a reserve for his fifth All-Star Game earlier Sunday.

The teams split the season series 2-2.

Up next for the Clippers: vs. Philadelphia at Intuit Dome on Monday night.

DENVER — Nikola Jokic had 31 points and 12 rebounds in his first game in a month, Tim Hardaway Jr. added 22 points, and the Denver Nuggets knocked off the Clippers 122-109 on Friday night.

Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP, missed 16 games after injuring his left knee in a Dec. 29 loss at Miami. The Nuggets went 10-6 during that stretch, which also included extended absences from fellow starters Cameron Johnson and Christian Braun.

Jokic’s 29th double-double of the season came despite being on a minutes restriction imposed by coach David Adelman. The 30-year-old Serbian was limited to 25 minutes, his second-fewest this season.

James Harden had 25 points and nine assists for the Clippers (22-25), who had won 16 of their previous 19, the best win percentage in that NBA during that period.

Jokic scored 11 points over a stretch of 3:47 in the fourth quarter that extended Denver’s lead from five to 16. The Nuggets (33-16) improved to 7-3 in the second of back-to-back games.

Jamal Murray had 22 points, and Peyton Watson added 21 for Denver. Murray, who made four of five three-pointers and had a team-high nine assists, scored at least 20 points for the 35th time this season, matching a career high.

Up next for the Clippers: at Phoenix on Sunday night.

The date was Dec. 20. It was the day everything changed for the Clippers.

Kawhi Leonard has been the leading scorer in the NBA since, averaging 31.8 points per game. James Harden has averaged 25.1 points in that stretch. The Clippers have the best scoring differential in the Western Conference over that span. They’ve been rolling.

This is where Robert Flom enters the story.

Flom is a blogger who covers the Clippers, and Dec. 20 was when he wrote the following on X: “If they go 15-3 in any stretch this season will print and eat this tweet.”

The Clippers have gone 15-3 since. True to his word, Flom printed the tweet Monday and ate it.

“Pretty crunchy,” he said.

Social media wasn’t around in 1953 or 1985, which means it’s highly unlikely anyone in Baltimore or Cleveland had to endure a crunchy moment like the one Flom put himself through on Monday night.

The 1952-53 Baltimore Bullets got into the playoffs by finishing fourth in a five-team division, in a year when eight of the NBA’s 10 teams made the postseason. The 1984-85 Cleveland Cavaliers got into the playoffs despite spending more than three months of that season holding down last place in the Eastern Conference.

Both teams started those seasons with 6-21 records. Of the 121 teams that started an NBA season with a record that bad or worse, including five this season, those Bullets (who finished 16-54) and Cavaliers (who finished 36-46) are the only two that wound up reaching the postseason.

The Clippers started 6-21 this season. The playoffs were a million miles away. Not anymore.

Going into Tuesday’s game at Utah, the Clippers are three games under .500 at 21-24. They are 10th in the West, but that would be enough to get them into the play-in tournament and give them a chance at a playoff berth.

For a team that was a half-game out of last place in the West a couple of days before Christmas, just getting back to play-in range this soon represents a minor miracle.

“We’re confident, we’re playing well, but we’ve still got to play better,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said after Sunday’s 126-89 romp over the Brooklyn Nets. “We still have to run through the tape and continue to execute the right way. … Overall, we’re playing well. We’ve got to keep it going.”

The Clippers, to their credit, were aware of Flom’s tweet. The Clippers’ social media team had a blast with it — all in good fun, like the tweet itself — and players couldn’t help but react when they got that 15th win in 18 games that ensured Flom would be chewing on paper for a half-hour or so.

“We gotta get him on camera,” Lue said.

“I don’t know how healthy that is for you,” Leonard said.

Clippers fans got into the act as well, chanting “eat the tweet” during Sunday’s game. It’s a feel-good story, such as it is. And there have been a few of those in the NBA this season.

Among them: Toronto started slowly but is vying for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs now. BetMGM Sportsbook had Phoenix’s over-under for wins this season at 30.5; the Suns have already won 27 games. The Celtics, even without Jayson Tatum, are No. 2 in the East, something few outside Boston probably expected.

The Clippers were supposed to be good, like title-contending good. Starting 6-21 was beyond unexpected. Then again, so was the turnaround. And the tweet is a neat part of why everyone seems happy in Clipperland these days, after tons of drama going back to the summer.

There was a probe of whether a business relationship between Leonard and a California company was legitimate or merely a way for the Clippers to circumvent salary cap rules, then Chris Paul being sent home in a stunning early December move, and a whole lot of losing.

Now, there’s a whole lot of winning. For the record, Flom now says the Clippers will finish 45-37. The way they’re playing, he might not have to eat those words.