Kawhi Leonard Reveals Russell Westbrook's Impact on Clippers

Kawhi Leonard gave high praise to Russell Westbrook

When Russell Westbrook arrived on the Clippers, many were questioning what kind of impact he would have on the team. It's still hard to appropriately gauge what that impact is, but he's definitely given an energy boost to a team that desperately needed it.

Since Westbrook arrived on the LA Clippers, the team has a record of 6-7. Five of those losses have been absolute nail-biters against the: Sacramento Kings, Denver Nuggets, Sacramento Kings, Orlando Magic, and Oklahoma City Thunder. These were games that could have essentially been coin flops the Clippers could have easily won.

After the Clippers defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday night, Kawhi Leonard was asked about Russell Westbrook's impact on the team, to which he gave some high praise.

"Just having a Hall of Fame point guard on the floor," Leonard said. You know, he brings energy to the team, brings pace, plays both ends of the floor, defensively, rebounding the ball, getting guys shots. He's been doing a good job."

With the absence of Paul George, Russell Westbrook's responsibility is going to be even higher with the LA Clippers. In game 1 without George, Westbrook delivered. Westbrook put up 24 points, 7 assists, and 4 rebounds on 62/50/75 shooting. Included in that was an alley-oop with Bones Hyland that got the crowd incredibly excited. It was everything that the LA Clippers needed from Russell Westbrook in the absence of Paul George.

The Clippers have eight regular season games left without Paul George, and they'll need Russell Westbrook to thrive now more than ever.

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