Sunday, December 28

Kawhi Leonard is on pace to set a notable single-season NBA record


Kawhi Leonard has officially progressed to side quests.

The LA Clippers won their third game in a row on Friday, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers at Moda Center in Portland, Ore. by a final score of 119-103. Leonard was once again a standout for the Clippers, finishing with 28 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.

Most notably though, Leonard went 12/12 from the free throw line. That extended his streak of consecutive made free throws to a whopping 52 and counting.

After Friday’s perfect performance from the line, Leonard is now up to a season-long free throw percentage of 98.2 (107/109). As a result, Leonard is quietly on pace to break the NBA’s all-time record for single-season free throw percentage (currently held by Jose Calderon, who shot 98.1 percent from the line for the Toronto Raptors back in 2008-09).

Leonard’s numbers are probably unlikely to hold since he is a volume shooter who gets to the charity stripe often. But that is still an absolutely remarkable improvement from the line for Leonard, who shot just 81.0 percent last season and is at 86.4 percent for his entire NBA career.

The two-time Finals MVP Leonard does still need to hit 45 more free throws in a row to match the NBA’s all-time record for consecutive made foul shots (97 set by Micheal Williams of the Minnesota Timberwolves in 1993). But considering all the negative press that Leonard and the 9-21 Clippers have gotten this season, this is certainly a nice little side story for them right now.





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