Kawhi Leonard has added yet another weapon to his arsenal, and the Clippers look like a force to be reckoned with

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Kawhi Leonard.

• Kawhi Leonard has been doing more play-making and excelling at it for the Los Angeles Clippers.
• Though it's only been two games, Leonard is averaging a career-high seven assists per game, running the pick-and-roll more often, and showing off chemistry with his Clippers teammates.
• While it's still very early in the season, the Clippers look as good as the NBA world expected and will only be more fearsome if their best player has added a new skill to his game.
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Through two games, the Los Angeles Clippers look to be worthy of the offseason hype, as they've raced out to a 2-0 start with impressive wins over the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors.

Several things have stood out about the Clippers: a deep bench, a seemingly endless supply of competent defenders, and three-point shooters, a defense that has held its two opponents to a combined 41% shooting.

But one noteworthy development has been Kawhi Leonard becoming far more of a playmaker than he's shown before.

Leonard has never averaged more than 3.5 assists per game in his career and averaged 3.3 per game last year with the Toronto Raptors.

Assists, of course, are not the end-all, be-all of passing statistics, but Leonard is averaging seven assists per game to begin this season - double what he's ever averaged before.

Through much of the 2018-19 regular season, the Raptors ran two offenses - the Raptors offense and the "Kawhi offense." The latter, more or less, let Leonard create a play outside of the team offense. Leonard averaged 6.7 potential assists (passes that led to a shot that a teammate missed) last year, according to the NBA's stats site. He's averaging 11.0 potential assists to begin this year.

It's not that Leonard is an unwilling passer, but clearly, he has taken on a new role early with this Clippers team.

Meet "Point Kawhi"

Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images

In two games, Leonard has acted as a pick-and-roll ball-handler on 50% of possessions, up from 26.8% last year.

Leonard has already shown great chemistry with the Clippers bigs in the pick-and-roll, particularly with Montrezl Harrell.

Leonard has always been capable of drawing the defense and finding the open man, but this year, he's shown an almost LeBron James-esque ability to draw a second defender, then sling the ball cross-court to a shooter.

The NBA world has taken notice of Leonard's improved playmaking.

The Clippers, despite owning perhaps the best, most well-rounded roster in the NBA, entered the season with some questions at point guard. Patrick Beverley, nominally a point guard, can handle the ball but doesn't create many plays for others. Lou Williams is an excellent ball-handler but primarily looks to score. He can create plays in a pick-and-roll but isn't the type to organize and set up an offense.

A source with knowledge of the Clippers' thinking said in the offseason that the team was not worried about any holes at point guard. This source believed the Clippers had enough to get by and would not miss having a "true point guard" on the roster.

It appears having Leonard run more plays was in the game plan all along. Paul George, an underrated playmaker, will get turns when he is healthy, too. George is expected to return in November as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery.

Two games is a very small sample size in an 82-game season. Yet to kick off the year, the Clippers look like everything the NBA world expected and more. The Clippers will only present more of a problem if their star players continue to add to their games, as Leonard has shown.

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