INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The LA Clippers made what seemed like a minor draft-day trade in June. They gave the New York Knicks the rights to 2015 second-round pick Luka Mitrović for the right to swap second-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft, going from 51 to 50. That’s where they selected 6-foot-8 Nevada point guard Kobe Sanders.
It seemed like Sanders was a diamond in the rough. Not only did he have intriguing size for a guard, but he had the skill to go with it. Sanders played four years at Cal Poly before landing in Reno for the fifth year that was granted due to COVID-19. Sanders played at least 16 minutes per game every year in college, with his assist totals rising each season. He was a player who could get to the free-throw line at a high rate, rebound, make plays, protect the ball and collect steals while shooting well enough to keep defenses honest.
The drawbacks: He was a big fish in the small ponds of the Big West and Mountain West conferences, and not the most athletic at that. The Clippers downplayed Sanders’ point guard possibilities somewhat when drafting him, with basketball president Lawrence Frank calling Sanders a “playmaking wing” rather than a true point guard.
But the Spring Valley, Calif., native was sure of what kind of player he could be.
“It was fun playing the point guard last year,” Sanders said in July before summer league in Las Vegas. “I mean, I’ve been playing it my whole life. I was a late grower, so I had my growth spurt in high school, and I always thought I was gonna be a point guard. So I kinda carried those skills over.”
Sanders signed a two-way contract with the Clippers, and he impressed teammates and assistant coaches with his ability to get to his spots when the team was preparing for summer league. But Sanders ended summer league with a lowlight, shooting only 3-of-11 with a 1:9 assist-turnover ratio in the team’s finale against the Memphis Grizzlies.
That was in July. Fast forward to Monday, when the Clippers played host to the Golden State Warriors on national television. LA was running out of players. Future Hall of Famer James Harden was a late addition to the injury report with right shoulder soreness, and the game-time decision ruled Harden out. Bradley Beal (hip) is out for the season. Bogdan Bogdanović (hamstring) was in the middle of his latest multi-week absence. Chris Paul was dismissed a month ago.
Sanders was tapped to start for a team that rarely plays rookies, let alone has them ready to start. But as veteran Nicolas Batum put it, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue couldn’t take Sanders out if he made mistakes: “There’s nobody else.”
The Clippers beat the Warriors 103-102 Monday night in a game that came down to the final shot. Sanders paired with Kawhi Leonard to help the Clippers with a career-best 20 points on 9-of-16 shooting from the field while adding seven rebounds and three assists. It was the first time LA had won a clutch-time game since November, and only the third time it has won a clutch-time game out of 13 tries this season. The Clippers have more wins in the last 17 days (seven) than they had in the first 50 days (six) of the regular season.
Sanders has played every game for the Clippers since Nov. 12, when LA announced that Beal would require season-ending surgery. He even started the first three games that the Clippers played without Derrick Jones Jr. in November when Jones first injured his right knee (the same knee he re-injured Saturday night against the Boston Celtics).
Sanders got right to it against the Warriors, hitting his first shot of the game in front of Stephen Curry and off a pass from Leonard. Moments later, Sanders used an Ivica Zubac screen to get into the paint just below the free-throw line for another pull-up bucket. Later in the period, Sanders again attacked in the midrange, using his body as a shield against the pesky defense of Gary Payton II to get to his spot and hop into another field goal.
“Talking to him shooting his midrange shot, that’s his best shot,” Lue said. “They’re talking about rim and 3 and all that. Shoot your best shot.”
Sanders had 10 points at halftime. Snoop Dogg was sitting down for guest commentary for the second half. And Snoop was introduced to Sanders’ skill set, one that goes beyond pull-up midrange field goals.
The Warriors made only 3-of-24 field goal attempts in the third quarter, trailing by as many as 14 points. Sanders had more buckets in the third quarter by himself, scoring 10 more points while making 4-of-5 field goals in the period.
On the first possession of the third quarter, Sanders picked up his dribble at the elbow and looked stuck with Curry defending him. But Curry is 6-foot-2, six inches shorter than Sanders. Once Sanders got his footwork together, he rose and scored over Curry.
Later in the third quarter, the Warriors elected to double Leonard off a Brook Lopez ball screen, forcing Leonard to eject a pass back out to Lopez. With the shot clock running down, Lopez swung the ball back to the other side, with Sanders waiting to retrieve it after lifting from the corner. Sanders didn’t hesitate to let a 3 fly from 32 feet, even with Curry contesting:
And after Lopez rebounded a De’Anthony Melton miss just inside of two minutes left in the third quarter, Leonard pushed the ball into the frontcourt, where he was met by Draymond Green and a trailing Al Horford. Leonard got to the elbow just as Sanders was running to the strong-side corner.
After getting Green and Horford to commit, Leonard found Sanders for a corner 3 in front of LA’s bench to give the Clippers a 14-point lead, their largest of the game and one that would hold up despite Jimmy Butler getting one last look at a potential buzzer-beating, game-winning field goal as time expired.
Sanders became the first rookie in the Lue era to start a game, play at least 35 minutes and score 20 points. The only rookies who did it for the Clippers in the Doc Rivers era, which lasted from 2013 to 2020, were Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Amir Coffey.
“Just playing basketball for such a long time, you pick up IQ, you pick up just little things here and there,” Sanders said. “And then, just having teammates and coaches around you that know your game, that can instill confidence in you and then keep pushing you to get better every day. It just helps a lot.”
Now, the Clippers will go on to an Eastern Conference road trip that will include stops in New York, Brooklyn, and Detroit. Sanders has shown confidence and skill. He’s even done it in front of Snoop Dogg and alongside Leonard, the two-time NBA Finals MVP. But this is who Sanders has always been.
“This is off the chain… Y’all did that!” –@SnoopDogg on his first trip to @IntuitDome 🗣️
📺 @NBAonNBC pic.twitter.com/YNJbbGQqAv
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) January 6, 2026
“I just think the biggest thing is the confidence instilled from my teammates,” Sanders said. “I keep harping on it, but that’s the biggest thing they keep telling me: to keep going, keep going. And I’m able to get more comfortable playing my game.”