Los Clippersugly duckling of the city of Los Angeles, cursed shield like few others in the bulging history of the NBA, finally has some reason to smile in the 2025-26 campaign. The Californians, after a disastrous first third of the season, failed … their plan to conquer the league with the oldest squad in history and anchored at the bottom of the table, they added their fourth consecutive victory early on Monday. Furthermore, they did so before the Detroit Pistonssensation of the course and leader of the Eastern Conference. A leap of faith sparked by the stellar performance of Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles, 34 years old), prodigious service from a star on the decline who, however, delivered the best performance of his career, 55 points nothing less.
The forward crowned his great night with 11 rebounds, five steals, two blocks and five triples, figures that invite you to travel back in time, when he was considered one of the best modern players and won the trophy Larry O’Brien on two occasions, once with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and another with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, being named best player in the finals on both occasions. Little by little, it begins to resurface Leonardthe king of suspensions, the entity with hands capable of holding a satellite, a cult athlete who after years marked by injuries embraces his finest version in the final stages of 2026. In fact, in the hopeful streak of the Clippershas averaged 39 points per game.
A MASTERPIECE FROM KAWHI LEONARD!
🖐️ 55 PTS (career-high)
🖐️ 11 REB
🖐️ 5 STL
🖐️ 3 BLK
🖐️ 5 3PMThat ties the Clippers franchise record for PTS in a game 🔥 pic.twitter.com/PMacnRiUxW
— NBA (@NBA) December 29, 2025
Baskets and more baskets to partially cover up what was one of the darkest scandals in the competition, at least until October it was demonstrated that the Italian mafia was deeply involved in its structure. On September 9, the American journalist Pablo Torre assured that the Clippers They paid Leonard through a shell company called Aspirationdedicated to tree planting and sponsor of the complex, a figure close to the 28 million of dollars, about 24 million euros, to break the salary limit and fill the star’s coffers.
The bulge grew larger when the company, after declaring bankruptcy in March, admitted to having defrauded 248 million to investors and lenders. The legal documentation presented by Torre showed that both a company associated with Leonard and Steve Ballmerformer Microsoft boss, owner of the Clippers and one of the richest people in the world, were among Aspiration’s creditors. Of course, the NBA began an intense investigation, although to date no punishment has been carried out. In theory, Kawhi would get that amount for promoting said company, although he never did such a thing.
There is not only controversy in the life of Leonarda man turned into a caricature due to his inability to show feelings, cold as an iceberg and with a laugh that looks like that of an android. This excessively serious pose is marked because, when he was 17, his father was shot to death in a car wash tunnel where he worked.
The police never found the killer or the trigger for the violence, and 11 years ago the Leonard family stopped asking the authorities for explanations. However, the day after losing his father, Kawhi He went to play an important game with his institute, he added 17 points and when he finished, he merged into an intense hug with his mother. «The loss of my father prepared me for whatever happened to me the rest of my life. Missing a free throw doesn’t hurt as much as that,” he acknowledged as a professional.
