Kawhi Leonard Reacts to LA Clippers Trading For Rajon Rondo

Kawhi Leonard gave his thoughts on new Clipper Rajon Rondo

Rajon Rondo is officially a member of the LA Clippers, but he hasn't made his debut yet. That isn't stopping him from learning the plays and establishing his presence on the team.

Kawhi Leonard believes Rondo will bring a championship and veteran presence to the Clippers.

"He's been there before," Leonard said. He's a point guard that's been there before in previous championship runs. He's gonna give us that veteran mentality, the experience, and giving us another ball-handling playmaker that can attack the rim and make the defense collapse."

Rondo didn't play for the Clippers against the Sixers, but he was with the bench on the team. He asked Ty Lue on the sidelines about what plays the Clippers were running and kept an open dialogue with assistant coaches on the bench. It's that type of leadership that Doc Rivers believes Rondo will bring to the Clippers.

“I think he’s one of those guys who will speak up," Rivers said.

It's not just Rondo's leadership that will positively impact the Clippers, but Doc Rivers believes it'll be his obvious point guard play as well. Many teams don't get the time to appropriately practice during these shortened COVID-19 impacted seasons. The ability to run a practiced offense isn't always available, and an orchestrator like Rondo can help in that regard.

"Obviously his point guard play," Rivers said. "It was difficult at times ... especially without practice time, to run a play down the stretch when you didn't already have the ball in PG or Kawhi's hand. Now you can actually run a set where Rondo can deliver the ball."

Ty Lue doesn't know if Rajon Rondo will start with the Clippers, or when he'll return, but there are some hefty expectations when he debuts.

"He's a leader by nature," Paul George said. "He's a leader coming into this team as is... We know what he stands for, we know what he's about. We want everything that he brings."