Anthony Davis Was Rejected By Kawhi Leonard’s Clippers for 2 Big Reasons

The Los Angeles Lakers were in the best place back in 2020. Bringing in Anthony Davis looked to be their best move as he won them the championship in his first season. However, a lot has happened since then. Davis has picked up regular injuries, and this season was no different. Now, a shocking revelation came to the surface as the Clippers said they were not interested in signing AD.

After his dominating run with the Pelicans, Davis had solidified himself well. He was arguably the best big man at the time. And with him becoming a free agent, his interest in Los Angeles was clear.

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Coming off averaging 25.9 points and 12 rebounds, the Lakers roped him in. But he wouldn’t have any problems with their city rivals, the Clippers. However, the Kawhi Leonard team was never interested. And they had two solid reasons to reject an AD trade.

The Clippers never planned for stealing Anthony Davis from Lakers

With Anthony Davis, this season was the second consecutive shortcut season. With the new-looking Lakers in shape, Davis was absent for most of the season. Notably, the big man played just 40 games in the 2022 campaign. With the Clippers’ situation, Colin Cowherd said toughness and leadership were the two main reasons Davis never looked attractive to the Clippers.

He said: “I had a good source inside the Clippers that told me when A.D. was on the market, they didn’t think he was (a) a leader or (b) tough. They thought he was gifted. And they didn’t think he would play through injuries. They didn’t think he worked out enough.…”

“The idea was everybody loved A.D., and the Clippers have a very deep roster, very shrewd front office. They didn’t love him. And their takeaway was he has to be led. He can’t lead.”

The Clippers wound up going for the duo of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. In their first season, the Clippers duo looked in doom. They blew a 3-1 lead to the Nuggets and couldn’t even reach the conference finals. But since then, they have managed quite some success. They reached the Conference finals last season without Leonard.

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In addition, they only lost in the play-in without both George and Kawhi. With both of them coming back next season, the Clippers will be an exciting team to watch.

With the way Davis has progressed, do you think the Clippers made the right call? Let us know in the comments below.