Kawhi Leonard's back, but focus should be on another ex-Raptor's career season
Norman Powell would have been a deserving pick as an all-star.
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Published Feb 01, 2025 • 3 minute read
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Norman Powell is having a career year as a starter with the Clippers. Photo by Harry How /Getty Images
Kawhi Leonard will get most of the attention, but another returning former Raptor should get his due as well when he’s in town on Sunday with the Los Angeles Clippers.
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Leonard, the driving force and best player on Toronto’s NBA championship team, is easing his way back, now 10 games into another season delayed by injury. He’s averaging only 16.6 points, his fewest since the 16.2 he averaged in the final nine games he played for San Antonio before being dealt to the Raptors, in limited minutes.
Meanwhile, Leonard’s friend Norman Powell is having an out-of-nowhere-career campaign, one that could easily have earned him an all-star nod. With Paul George gone to Philadelphia, Powell’s role and minutes elevated, and he has responded by averaging 24.1 points (his career average is 13.1 per game and he only averaged 13.9 last season), 1.4 steals (also a career best), 43.6% three-point shooting and his second-best mark yet on two-pointers (55.4%).
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He scored 24 points in a two-point win by Los Angeles earlier this season and is 6-0 since being dealt from Toronto to Portland for Gary Trent Jr., a deal that looked OK early, but has gotten progressively worse each ensuing season, capped by Powell’s breakout this year.
Coming off a win over Charlotte on Friday, Powell told reporters that a rare return north of the border isn’t top of mind for him.
“Everybody knows how I feel about Toronto (Powell penned a memorable tribute back in 2021), but focused on getting a win,” Powell said. “I already had my tribute video, already had my tribute time there.”
Powell got that honour on December 27, 2022, when he and Leonard made their first returns to Toronto (injuries and the Tampa Bay relocation year prevented earlier trips back for both). Powell called the night “amazing” and a “full-circle moment.” He received a standing ovation and later got more cheers after throwing down two huge dunks.
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Powell first made a name for himself for monster playoff jams against the Indiana Pacers and later the Milwaukee Bucks. He was a considerable success story for the franchise after being selected 46th overall in 2015, but nobody saw this year coming, except possibly Powell, Mr. “Understand the grind” himself.
“I saw an opportunity to step into the role that I’ve always wanted in my career and I saw addition by subtraction because I felt like I knew what I could bring to the table,” Powell told the Los Angeles Times last month about George (and Russell Westbrook) leaving.
“I think people kind of put me in a box and probably thought I was kind of shooting too high.
“It was always an individual goal,” Powell said. “It was, ‘I want to be an all-star. I want to be on that stage. I want to be in the same position that I saw my favourite players being in growing up.’
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“And honestly it’s surreal. … It’s been 10 years and I kind of take it as a little shot or a little chip on my shoulder when everybody is talking about, ‘Oh, this is his 10th year in the league and this and that.’ It just adds to the beauty of being mentioned now as an all-star, this being my 10th year.”
Clippers head coach Ty Lue praised Powell after Friday’s win in Charlotte, the team’s third straight.
“He puts the work in every single day to get better. He’s worked to be a starter. He’s made the most of it,” Lue told reporters.
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“He’s always wanted to be a starter, but you’re playing behind PG and Kawhi, it’s hard. But that never stopped him from working and grinding. I’m glad he did because that’s where he’s at now. Now, everybody gets to see the work he puts in and gets a chance to see what it has done for him in his career.”
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Lue added that Powell and James Harden have had to carry the load with Leonard out for so long. Los Angeles was only a game out of fourth in the West entering play Saturday.
“To do what he’s doing without your best player for the whole year, that just says a lot,” Lue said. “Take away anybody’s best player on any team and see what they are going to do. Our best player has missed, what, 37-38 games and we are fighting for (fourth or fifth) It says a lot about what Norm and James have done. So, yeah, Norm is a grinder and I’m glad everybody gets to see that now.”
@WolstatSun
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