Kawhi Leonard Statistical Performance Prop Bets

Kawhi Leonard is taking his game from Canada to Southern California. In yet another big blockbuster NBA free agent movie the defending Finals MVP will leave the Toronto Raptors to play with the Los Angeles Clippers. He’ll be joined by former Oklahoma City Thunder forward Paul George and a talented though unheralded group that gave the Golden State Warriors a tough battle during their opening round playoff series.

The move has already resonated throughout the NBA betting markets. The Clippers are now favored to win the Pacific Division (-125), Western Conference (+175) and the NBA Championship (+300). The LeBron + Anthony Davis Lakers had been favored to win the NBA Championship but are now the second choice at +400. Sharp handicappers will likely be looking down the betting board at tasty value opportunities on very good teams that have been presented by the emergence of the two public darlings in Los Angeles.

The entire 2019-2020 NBA season is shaping up to be one of the most compelling in recent memory. There are too almost too many tasty storylines to count. The Lakers/Clippers rivalry. The decline (?) of the injury ravaged Golden State Warriors. The contenders in waiting aka the New Jersey Nets who will play this year without Kevin Durant. The ridiculously talented young New Orleans Pelicans. What might be most interesting in watching the teams that didn’t make the main story on ‘Sportscenter’ with their free agent signings but still have very talented team–teams like the Utah Jazz, Portland Trailblazers and Milwaukee Bucks.

With Kevin Durant injured and likely to miss most if not all of the season all eyes will be on Kawhi. Even more so than LeBron James–he’ll be the individual focal point of all of this entertaining chaos. We know how he did when he was dropped into the middle of a talented team and a solid franchise in Toronto. How will he respond being ‘the man’ on a rebuilding Clippers team that has never really tasted much NBA success? Let’s take a look at some of the NBA regular season prop bets focusing on Kawhi’s statistical output:

KAWHI LEONARD ASSISTS PER GAME 2019-2020 NBA REGULAR SEASON

Over 3 APG                                      -115
Under 3 APG                                     -115                                                           

KAWHI LEONARD POINTS PER GAME 2019-2020 NBA REGULAR SEASON

Over 24.5 PPG                                   -115
Under 24.5 PPG                                  -115  

KAWHI LEONARD REBOUNDS PER GAME 2019-2020 NBA REGULAR SEASON

Over 6.5 RPG                                    -115
Under 6.5 RPG                                   -115  

A good place to start looking at this kind of prop bet is by evaluating Kawhi’s 2018-2019 output with Toronto. 26.6 PPG, 7.3 RPG, 3.3 APG. The Clippers didn’t have any problem scoring points in 2018-2019–in fact, they were one of the top offenses in the league putting up 115.1 (#5 overall). Their leading scorer was small forward Tobias Harris who is now a member of the Philadelphia 76ers and averaged 20.9 PPG but his loss will be more than compensated for by Kawaii’s arrival. The Clippers ‘secret weapon’ could be Lou Williams who is one of the best bench scorers in the NBA and put up 20.1 PPG last season.

The Clippers were a mediocre rebounding team (#13 at 45.5 RPG). The aforementioned Tobias Harris led the team in rebounds (7.9 RPG) and they’ll need Leonard to carry some of that load though he’ll get help from new teammate Paul George who is a capable rebounder. Clips’ starting center Ivica Zubac was the team’s second leading rebounder a year ago and reprises the Serge Ibaka role. From a rebounding standpoint, the Clippers are very comparable to the team that Leonard left in Toronto.

LA was a second tier assists team last year and this is where Kawhi may need to step up more. It’s never a good sign when your sixth man scorer leads your team in assists but that’s the way it was in LA with the very capable Lou Williams leading the team. That’s no slight on Williams–he’s just a very well rounded and talented basketball player–but is something of a slight on the rest of the team. Patrick Beverly is penciled in as the team’s starting pointguard with no one behind him on the depth chart. This could be the Clippers’ biggest liability this season. The good news is that both Kawhi and Paul George are good playmakers and pass out of double teams very effectively. Leonard will get so much attention from opposing defenses that this could translate into a solid uptick in his assists total.

BET KAWHI LEONARD OVER 3 ASSISTS PER GAME -115
BET KAWHI LEONARD UNDER 24.5 POINTS PER GAME -115
BET KAWHI LEONARD OVER 6.5 REBOUNDS PER GAME -115

For up to the minute NBA basketball betting odds and props, follow BetOnline.ag on Twitter!