A growing number of Americans are using buy now, pay later loans to buy groceries, and more people are paying those bills late, according to new Lending Tree data released Friday.
In a survey conducted April 2-3 of 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 79, around half reported having used buy now, pay later services. Of those consumers, 25% of respondents said they were using BNPL loans to buy groceries, up from 14% in 2024 and 21% in 2023, the firm said.
Meanwhile, 41% of respondents said they made a late payment on a BNPL loan in the past year, up from 34% in the year prior, the survey found.
Lending Tree’s chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz, said that of those respondents who said they paid a BNPL bill late, most said it was by no more than a week or so.
“A lot of people are struggling and looking for ways to extend their budget,” Schulz said. “Inflation is still a problem. Interest rates are still really high. There’s a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and other economic issues, and it’s all going to add up to a lot of people looking for ways to extend their budget however they can.”
“For an awful lot of people, that’s going to mean leaning on buy now, pay later loans, for better or for worse,” he said.
He stopped short of calling the results a recession indicator but said conditions are expected to decline further before they get better.
“I do think it’s going to get worse, at least in the short term,” said Schulz. “I don’t know that there’s a whole lot of reason to expect these numbers to get better in the near term.”
The loans, which allow consumers to split up purchases into several smaller payments, are a popular alternative to credit cards because they often don’t charge interest. But consumers can see high fees if they pay late, and they can run into problems if they stack up multiple loans. In Lending Tree’s survey, 60% of BNPL users said they’ve had multiple loans at once, with nearly a fourth saying they have held three or more at once.
“It’s just really important for people to be cautious when they use these things, because even though they can be a really good interest-free tool to help you kind of make it from one paycheck to the next, there’s also a lot of risk in mismanaging it,” said Schulz. “So people should tread lightly.”
Lending Tree’s findings come after Billboard revealed that about 60% of general admission Coachella attendees funded their concert tickets with buy now, pay later loans, sparking a debate on the state of the economy and how consumers are using debt to keep up their lifestyles. A recent announcement from DoorDash that it would begin accepting BNPL financing from Klarna for food deliveries led to widespread mockery and jokes that Americans were struggling so much that they were now being forced to finance cheeseburgers and burritos.
Over the last few years, consumers have held up relatively well, even in the face of persistent inflation and high interest rates, because the job market was strong and wage growth had kept up with inflation — at least for some workers.
Earlier this year, however, large companies including Walmart and Delta Airlines began warning that the dynamic had begun to shift and they were seeing cracks in demand, which was leading to worse-than-expected sales forecasts.
Under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Education made regular announcements that it was forgiving student debt for thousands of people under various relief programs and repayment plans.
“You have the administration trying to limit PSLF credits, and clear attacks on the income-based repayment with forgiveness options,” said Malissa Giles, a consumer bankruptcy attorney in Virginia.
The White House did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
Here’s what to know about the current status of federal student loan forgiveness opportunities.
Forgiveness chances narrow on repayment plans
The Biden administration’s new student loan repayment plan,Saving on a Valuable Education, or SAVE, isn’t expected to survive under Trump, experts say. A U.S. appeals court already blocked the plan in February after a GOP-led challenge to the program.
SAVE came with two key provisions that lawsuits targeted: It had lower monthly payments than any other federal student loan repayment plan, and it led to quicker debt erasure for those with small balances.
“I personally think you will see SAVE dismantled through the courts or the administration,” Giles said.
But the Education Department under Trump is now arguing that the ruling by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals required it to end the loan forgiveness under repayment plans beyond SAVE. As a result, the Pay As You Earn and Income-Contingent Repayment options no longer wipe debt away after a certain number of years.
There’s some good news: At least one repayment plan still leads to debt erasure, said higher education expert Mark Kantrowitz. That plan is called Income-Based Repayment.
If a borrower enrolled in ICR or PAYE eventually switches to IBR, their previous payments made under the other plans will count toward loan forgiveness under IBR, as long as they meet the IBR’s other requirements, Kantrowitz said. (Some borrowers may opt to take that strategy if they have a lower monthly bill under ICR or PAYE than they would on IBR.)
Public Service Loan Forgiveness remains
Despite Trump’s executive order in March aimed at limiting eligibility for Public Service Loan Forgiveness, the program remains intact. Any changes to the program would likely take months or longer to materialize, and may even need congressional approval, experts say.
PSLF, which President George W. Bush signed into law in 2007, allows many not-for-profit and government employees to have their federal student loans canceled after 10 years of payments.
What’s more, any changes to PSLF can’t be retroactive, consumer advocates say. That means that if you are currently working for or previously worked for an organization that the Trump administration later excludes from the program, you’ll still get credit for that time — at least up until when the changes go into effect.
For now, the language in the president’s executive order was fairly vague. As a result, it remains unclear exactly which organizations will no longer be considered a qualifying employer under PSLF, experts said.
However, in his first few months in office, Trump has targeted immigrants, transgender and nonbinary people and those who work to increase diversity across the private and public sector. Many nonprofits work in these spaces, providing legal support or doing advocacy and education work.
For now, those pursuing PSLF should print out a copy of their payment history on StudentAid.gov or request one from their loan servicer. They should keep a record of the number of qualifying payments they’ve made so far, said Jessica Thompson, senior vice president of The Institute for College Access & Success.
“We urge borrowers to save all documentation of their payments, payment counts, and employer certifications to ensure they have any information that might be useful in the future,” Thompson said.
Other loan cancellation opportunities to consider
Federal student loan borrowers also remain entitled to a number of other student loan forgiveness opportunities.
The Teacher Loan Forgiveness program offers up to $17,500 in loan cancellation to those who’ve worked full time for “complete and consecutive academic years in a low-income school or educational service agency,” among other requirements, according to the Education Department.
(One thing to note: This program can’t be combined with PSLF, and so borrowers should decide which avenue makes the most sense for them.)
In less common circumstances, you may be eligible for a full discharge of your federal student loans under Borrower Defense if your school closed while you were enrolled or if you were misled by your school or didn’t receive a quality education.
Borrowers may qualify for a Total and Permanent Disability discharge if they suffer from a mental or physical disability that is severe and permanent and prevents them from working. Proof of the disability can come from a doctor, the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs.
With the federal government rolling back student loan forgiveness measures, experts also recommend that borrowers explore the many state-level relief programs available. The Institute of Student Loan Advisors has a database of student loan forgiveness programs by state.
The Cleveland Browns selected Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders with the 144th pick in the fifth round of the NFL draft on Saturday, a surprising slide down the boards for what was considered by many a first-round lock.
Sanders was a lightning rod of a prospect during draft season. While many projected him as a first-round selection — anywhere as high as No. 3 to the New York Giants or to the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21 — he went undrafted on the first two nights.
Ultimately, Sanders was selected in the fifth round by Cleveland. Five quarterbacks — Miami’s Cam Ward, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart, Louisville’s Tyler Shough, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel — went ahead of Sanders.
Minutes after the pick was made, Sanders posted to X, simply saying, “Thank you GOD.”
The Browns shortly after posted a sizzle reel of Sanders with the caption, “Another playmaker in the mix.”
Sanders, the son of NFL Hall-of-Famer and Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders, began his collegiate career at Jackson State in 2021 when his father was the head coach. Both left for Colorado after the 2022 season, and Shedeur Sanders spent his final two years in college with the Buffaloes.
In his senior season, Sanders won Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year, completing 74.0% of his passes, with 37 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He also threw 4,134 yards.
Sanders was a key figure in Colorado’s turnaround as a football program. The school won only one game the season before his arrival. In 2024, the Buffaloes won nine games for the first time since 2016.
In the lead up to the draft, Sanders was the target of several scouts and coaches, with his character off the field often being drawn into question.
Purdue University’s train mascot, the Boilermaker Special, was involved in a fatal crash on Thursday afternoon in Tippecanoe County, Indiana.
The vehicle crossed the median traveling north on U.S. 52 after a “possible tire malfunction,” hitting a southbound car, the Tippecanoe County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.
The one individual in the southbound car was pronounced dead at the scene, deputies said. The coroner’s office will release the victim’s identity once their family is notified.
Madison Cook, a 20-year-old Purdue student from Noblesville, was driving the Boilermaker Special at the time of the crash with 22-year-old Taylor Melton from Rockport, deputies said.
Both students were treated at the hospital and released on Thursday, the university said in a statement.
“As part of the investigation, toxicology exams will be conducted for both drivers,” authorities said.
The sheriff’s office said it is looking into any additional mechanical issues that may be related to the crash, with the Indiana State Police Commercial Vehicle Division aiding in the investigation.
The Boilermaker Special VII has served as the official mascot of Purdue since 2011, cared for by the the Purdue Reamer Club.
Claimed to be the world’s fastest, heaviest and loudest mascot, the Boilermaker Special travels across the country to attend all of Purdue’s away football games.
More than 23 years after the Twin Towers collapsed, blanketing lower Manhattan in toxic dust and debris, the number of people diagnosed with 9/11-related illnesses is still growing.
Since 2011, the main resource for people exposed to the fumes has been the World Trade Center Health Program, which covers treatment for cancer, asthma and post-traumatic stress disorder, among other health conditions.
Of the roughly 132,000 people enrolled in the program as of December, 64% have at least one condition linked to 9/11. Cancer is the most common, affecting more than 40,000 members. Some people join the program after an illness has developed, while others join to receive annual screenings that could detect illnesses in the future.
The program’s fate has seesawed over the past 10 weeks as the Trump administration fired and rehired certain staffers, only to terminate them again last month, according to lawyers and advocates for people with 9/11-related exposures. They added that the staffing cuts have made it harder to enroll members or confirm that their treatment is covered by federal funding.
“These cuts are going to potentially delay treatment, delay diagnosis and early detection of their cancers, and it’s going to cost lives,” said Todd Cleckley, a nurse medical specialist at Barasch & McGarry, a law firm representing 9/11 responders and survivors.
“The health program already operated on a very slim staffing margin,” he added. “We’re only beginning to see what those negative impacts will be.”
Sixteen of the program’s staffers were swept up in the Trump administration’s firing of probationary workers in February. The administration reinstated the positions roughly a week later, following outcry from both Republicans and Democrats in Congress.
Then in late March the Department of Health and Human Services announced it was laying off around 20,000 federal employees. Those layoffs again included 16 staffers at the World Trade Center Health Program, plus the program’s director, according to lawyers and advocates. The director was reinstated on April 5 after more bipartisan opposition, they said, but the staffers were not.
The HHS layoffs were part of a massive restructuring that gutted the agency responsible for the World Trade Center program, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). In addition to the 16 staffers, HHS terminated other institute employees in charge of certifying that patients’ 9/11-related illnesses were eligible for federal funding, lawyers and advocates said.
“They weren’t on the World Trade Center Program payroll, but they did things that are essential to the program running,” said Benjamin Chevat, executive director of 9/11 Health Watch, a nonprofit group that helps ensure people have access to the program’s services.
Lawyers and advocates plan to visit Capitol Hill on Tuesday to ask lawmakers to reinstate staffers. HHS did not respond to a request for comment.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said that his office has reached out to the federal government “about restoring these important resources.”
“New York City is dedicated to providing quality health care to the heroes who responded on 9/11 and the survivors of the most tragic day in America’s history,” Adams said in a statement. “Our partnership with the federal government to deliver these services is vital, providing access to life-saving, time-sensitive treatment for every firefighter, police officer, volunteer, and everyday New Yorkers who remember that day, and remember what it took to rebuild the next morning.”
Before the staffing cuts, 9/11 responders and people who lived, worked or attended school or day care in the disaster area could apply to join the program and typically get accepted within a few weeks. But Chevat said no one has been enrolled since April 1. The program usually enrolls around 200 people per month, on average.
Michael Barasch, a partner at Barasch & McGarry, said he’s still submitting applications on behalf of his clients, but “they’re not hearing from the health program, so we don’t know if or when they will ever get an appointment.”
Members of the program receive annual screenings at certified health clinics, which are largely concentrated in the New York area. There, doctors evaluate people for a host of mental and physical illnesses with known ties to 9/11. If a doctor determines there’s a link, the clinic submits paperwork to federal employees, who must certify that the condition is eligible for funding before patients can be treated at no cost. More than 8,200 cancer diagnoses were certified last year.
New certifications haven’t been issued since the start of April, shortly after HHS announced it was dismantling NIOSH, Chevat said.
The delays could have dire consequences for people who were exposed to toxic dust and debris, lawyers and advocates said. Many cancers — once identified — must be treated right away.
“You’ll never hear me say something inflammatory just to make a headline, but it is a fact: People will die because of these decisions,” Barasch said.
The collapse of the Twin Towers released cancer-causing chemicals such as asbestos, benzene and dioxins that lingered in the air for days to weeks. A 10-year study found an elevated risk of leukemia and prostate and thyroid cancers among rescue and recovery workers who responded to the disaster. Other cancers, such as lung cancer and mesothelioma, may develop decades after exposure to asbestos, so future diagnoses are expected.
Michael O’Connell.Courtesy Michael O’Connell
“We were breathing in glass and asbestos and everything else that you could imagine,” said Michael O’Connell, who assisted with search-and-rescue operations as an early-career firefighter after 9/11. “We slept in it, we ate in it, we bled in it. We didn’t leave it. We were in that zone for almost nine months.”
Roughly six years later, O’Connell was diagnosed with a rare inflammatory disease called sarcoidosis that caused debilitating pain in his joints and skin. He received treatment through the World Trade Center Health Program, which he credits for helping him manage his symptoms. The idea that new members might not be able to enroll or receive treatment is “deeply disturbing,” he said.
If the NIOSH staffers aren’t reinstated, lawyers and advocates said, hospitals may not get reimbursed for chemotherapy or surgeries and eventually may stop offering them to patients. Barasch said he has already received calls from clients worried about whether they can continue to get chemo.
‘“It’s bureaucratic cruelty,” he said. “They’re trying to save money, which is fine, but don’t do it on the backs of the 9/11 community.”
Mariama James, a lower Manhattan resident who was pregnant with her third child during 9/11, said she has been waiting to see if the program will cover a treatment for her sleep apnea. She now expects that process to be delayed.
“How are they going to get a new medication covered if the doctors from NIOSH have been fired?” James said. “I’ll be waiting forever for that medication.”
The World Trade Center Health Program was already vulnerable before the layoffs due to budgetary constraints, Barasch added. In December, Congress opted not to include a long-term funding package for the program in a bipartisan spending deal. Several lawmakers anticipate that the budget shortfall could force the program to close enrollment or scale back treatment for current members starting in October 2028. A bipartisan bill introduced in the Senate in February calls for more funding to be made available until the program expires in 2090.
In addition to lobbying for program staffers to be rehired, lawyers and advocates will ask legislators on Tuesday to back the bill.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that he doubts Russia’s Vladimir Putin wants to end his war in Ukraine, expressing new skepticism that a peace deal can be reached soon. Only a day earlier, Trump had said Ukraine and Russia were “very close to a deal.”
Trump said in a social media post as he flew back to the United States after Pope Francis’ funeral that “there was no reason for Putin to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days.” Trump hinted at further sanctions against Russia.
“It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through “Banking” or “Secondary Sanctions?” Too many people are dying!!!” Trump wrote.
Trump earlier on Saturday met briefly at the Vatican with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the pope’s funeral.
President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican on Saturday.AFP – Getty Images
It was the first face-to-face encounter between Trump and the Ukrainian leader since they argued during a heated Oval Office meeting at the White House in late February.
Zelenskyy’s office had said teams were making arrangements for the leaders to talk again Saturday, but Trump went directly to the Rome airport after the funeral and boarded Air Force One for the 10-hour flight back to the United States, which seemed to rule out a second in-person conversation. Zelenskyy’s spokesperson, Serhii Nykyforov, said Trump and Zelenskyy did not meet again in person because of their tight schedules.
Zelenskyy said “good meeting” on social media after the funeral.
“We discussed a lot one on one. Hoping for results on everything we covered. Protecting lives of our people. Full and unconditional ceasefire. Reliable and lasting peace that will prevent another war from breaking out,” he said on X. “Very symbolic meeting that has potential to become historic, if we achieve joint results. Thank you.”
The White House called the discussion “very productive” and said it would release more details later. The meeting lasted about 15 minutes inside St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, where Francis often preached the need for a peaceful end to the war, just before Trump and Zelenskyy took their seats at the outdoor funeral service.
The Vatican long ago had offered to help facilitate peace talks and Francis had regularly called for peace and dialogue from the altar of the basilica. That Trump and Zelenskyy spoke privately, face to face and hunched over on chairs on the marbled floors of the pope’s home, on the day of his funeral, was perhaps a fitting way to honor his wishes.
The meeting came together hours after Trump said on social media, after he arrived in Italy late Friday, that Russia and Ukraine should meet for “very high level talks” on ending the three-year war that was sparked by Russia’s invasion.
Trump has pressed both sides to quickly come to an agreement to end the war, but while Zelenskyy agreed to an American plan for an initial 30-day halt to hostilities, Russia has not signed on and has continued to strike at targets inside Ukraine.
Last week’s hours-long missile and drone barrage of Kyiv that killed at least 12 people led Trump to appeal over social media for Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the strikes on Ukraine’s capital.
“ Vladimir, STOP!” Trump wrote.
Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, had met earlier on Friday with Putin in Moscow, and Trump said both sides were “very close to a deal.”
Putin did not attend Francis’ funeral. He faces an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court, which has accused him of war crimes stemming from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, in a statement Friday night, Zelenskyy said “very significant meetings may take place” in the coming days, and that an unconditional ceasefire was needed.
“Real pressure on Russia is needed so that they accept either the American proposal to cease fire and move towards peace, or our proposal — whichever one can truly work and ensure a reliable, immediate, and unconditional ceasefire, and then — a dignified peace and security guarantees,” he said.
“Diplomacy must succeed. And we are doing everything to make diplomacy truly meaningful and finally effective.”
The meeting Saturday also came shortly after Trump had issued his most definitive statement to date about the need for Ukraine to give up territory to Russia to bring the war to a close. He said in a Time magazine interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia.”
Russia seized the strategic peninsula along the Black Sea in southern Ukraine in 2014, years before the full-scale invasion that began in 2022. Zelenskyy wants to regain Crimea and other Ukrainian territory seized by Russia, but Trump considers that demand to be unrealistic.
Referring to Crimea during the interview, which was conducted at the White House on Tuesday, Trump said, “everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” meaning Russia.
This is a free newsletter for Diddy on Trial newsletter subscribers. Sign up to get exclusive reporting and analysis throughout Sean Combs’ federal trial.
We’re just nine days away from the start of jury selection in United States v. Combs. In today’s edition of Diddy on Trial, I’ll introduce you to the presiding judge and the lawyers on both sides of the case. Plus, we take a question from one of our subscribers. But first, here’s a rundown of our latest reporting:
Judge Arun Subramanian said at a hearing Friday that he will allow graphic surveillance video of Diddy attacking his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 to be shown during the trial. Adam Reissreported from the courtroom.
Diddy’s former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, stood by his side for years. But that working relationship has also brought her intense scrutiny. At least three civil suits allege she helped cover up his behavior, though she hasn’t been charged with any crimes. Janelle Griffithhas details.
Prosecutors are expected to call an expert witness named Dawn Hughes. She’s a forensic psychologist who played a key role in other high-profile legal sagas, including the 2021 prosecution of singer R. Kelly and the defamation trial involving actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. I took a closer look at her background and expertise.
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here for daily editions during the trial, including exclusive insights and analysis from our team inside the courthouse. If you have questions about what to expect, get in touch at [email protected].
Mailbag
Joe Demosthenes, one of our readers, wants to know who is on the list of expected witnesses. We put that question to Janelle, who sent over this reply:
The witness list has not been made public and it’s unclear whether one will. But we do know that four women — all accusers — will testify at Diddy’s trial. That’s according to a court filing from federal prosecutors.
Three of the accusers will testify using pseudonyms to shield their identities from the public and the media. Their names are known to Diddy and his legal team. The woman identified in the indictment as Victim-1 has leveled allegations that closely align with those of Diddy’s ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie.
Victim-1 is prepared to testify under her own name, the filing said.
Meet the judge and the lawyers at the center of the case
By Daniel Arkin
If you’ve ever spent time in an American courtroom, it’s easy to see why so many people have likened the experience to watching a play. The figures who populate the courtroom oftentimes resemble characters in a tense, high-stakes drama.
In that vein, consider this edition of Diddy on Trial a short guide to some of the case’s cast members. In the weeks and months ahead, their names will become increasingly familiar to readers of this newsletter.
Let’s start with the judge, Arun Subramanian. Subramanian has been on the federal bench for about two years. He was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2023 in a 59-37 vote. (Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., reportedly recommended Subramanian to Biden.)
Arun Subramanian in 2022. Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images file
Diddy’s trial appears to be the most high-profile judicial assignment to date for Subramanian, who once clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before working at the white shoe Manhattan law firm Susman Godfrey.
Diddy’s lead attorneys are no strangers to high-profile cases. Marc Antony Agnifilo, a veteran criminal defense lawyer, previously represented NXIVM sex cult leader Keith Raniere, former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng, former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn and “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli.
Agnifilo will be joined by Teny Geragos, one of the partners at his firm. She is “particularly experienced in defending and investigating allegations of sexual misconduct,” the firm’s website says. She is also the daughter of famed defense lawyer Mark Geragos, whose clients have included artists Michael Jackson and Chris Brown.
The court docket lists five other attorneys on Diddy’s side, including Alexandra Shapiro and Brian Steel. Steel, who recently joined the defense team, represented rapper Young Thug in Georgia’s longest-running criminal trial.
The same docket lists eight lawyers for the federal government, five of whom are designated as leads for the prosecution. They include Emily Anne Johnson, Madison Reddick Smyser, Mary Christine Slavik, Meredith Foster and Mitzi Steiner.
The prosecution’s side features Maurene Ryan Comey, too. She’s a veteran of the Southern District who helped secure a conviction against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein. Maurene Comey is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.
Outside the Basilica of St. Mary Major, a smaller venue where Pope Francis is to be laid to rest, a banner read “Thank You, Francis” in Italian.
While the funeral at the Vatican was attended by heads of state and monarchs, there was great symbolism in the fact that, according to the pope’s last wishes, his coffin was greeted on the steps of St. Mary Major by the poor and dispossesed, who remained at the forefront of Francis’ ministries to his death.
LOS ANGELES — Thursday night was the kind of scene the Los Angeles Clippers have dreamed about for nearly a decade: a raucous, sold-out crowd erupting in cheers following the first playoff win in their own arena.
After taking a resounding 2-1 lead in their first-round series against Denver, the Clippers are the NBA championship contender that no one predicted.
And it has been made possible by the career renaissance few saw coming.
In recent weeks, Kawhi Leonard has looked every bit the elite scorer and perimeter defender the Clippers thought they were getting in 2019 when Leonard, weeks removed from earning the second NBA Finals MVP honor of his career, signed with the Clippers in a free-agency coup.
Yet that was six years ago, a lifetime in a league where championship windows open rarely and close quickly.
“The best thing for him was taking the summer off and getting right,” said an executive from a rival team. “I just can’t believe how skinny he looks. He just looks like he’s so much lighter and moving so much better and playing back to the way he was before. It’s just amazing.”
Leonard has looked this dominant in the postseason before while in a Clippers uniform, starting in 2021. But during a second-round series against Utah, just as Leonard and Paul George were playing their best as teammates, Leonard took an innocuous bump from Utah’s Joe Ingles on a fast break and missed the rest of that postseason, and the entire 2021-22 season, as well, with a knee injury that required surgery.
Clippers playoff runs in 2023 and 2024 also ended with Leonard injured — a string of strains, inflammation and partial and complete tears to knee ligaments that left other teams so scared about his ability to stay on the court that in 2023, executives around the NBA described his trade value as zilch.
Entering this season, his premature endings to past campaigns, along with the departure of George in free agency, lowered his team’s championship expectations. Oddsmakers put the Clippers’ over-under for victories at 35.5 wins. Leonard didn’t even make his season debut until early January — when half the season was over.
Yet the Clippers finished with 50 wins anyway, after winning 18 of their last 21 games. And Leonard averaged 25.7 points on 52% shooting, including 42% on three-pointers, over his final 19 games.
His injury history has led fans, scouts and executives around the league to continue to hold their breath as they wait to see how long Leonard can remain healthy while playing heavy minutes.
“If you have watched Kawhi closely enough you know what’s possible,” said Oscar-winning director and writer Phil Lord, a longtime Clippers fan. “He made it possible. His elite work ethic has led once again to elite play. But I never want to see Joe Ingles anywhere near him ever again.”
Yet for now, Leonard has produced emphatic playoff moments, such as his 39 points while missing only four shots in a Game 2 win to even the Clippers’ series with Denver. In Game 3, he scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds.
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“This is what Kawhi lives for,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said this week. “And we know if we have a healthy Kawhi, we can win any series.”
Leonard himself could have predicted this. After returning from a knee injury following the 2023 season, he routinely described his recovery as a two-year timeline that he wasn’t looking to rush by “skipping steps.”
“Anybody in the business that is playing knows how hard it is to come back from injury or playing in the NBA. They understand what we all go through and what I went through,” Leonard said after the win.
As a beat reporter who covered Leonard daily during his first five seasons in Los Angeles, I have never been around a more routine-oriented player. Each pregame warmup was done at the same speed, with the same repetitions and drills, against the same assistant coaches. The irony that complicated his team’s championship ambitions, however, was that it was never predictable whether Leonard would be on the court.
It had even led to criticism of Leonard’s desire to play. But Clint Parks, a skills trainer who worked with Leonard as a teenager and early during his NBA career, said that could not be further from the motivation that has allowed Leonard to turn from an overlooked college recruit and NBA role player at the beginning of his career into a No. 1 option for a title team.
“His self-belief from Day 1 has always been one of one. He’s never not believed in himself at the highest, highest level,” Parks said. “He’s always had this work ethic. He’s always been focused. He’s always been a self-starter. At 14, he said he wanted to be one of the best to ever play basketball. That was his thing.”
“Over the years, he’s pushed toward that, and that’s exactly what he’s become, regardless of the injuries. People always talk about, ‘Oh, he could be top 10 if he didn’t miss all that time and wasn’t injured.’ Shoot, if he can finish the job and somehow bring home a championship to the Clippers, he will still be top 10 all time with all the injuries and everything and all the time he’s missed.”
Each of the last two seasons, Leonard had produced stretches that resembled a return to the form that made him a six-time All-Star, two-time defensive player of the year and a member of the NBA’s team of the 75 all-time players. Yet in 2023, after a dominating start to a first-round playoff series against Phoenix, Leonard suffered a season-ending knee injury. And last year, after the Clippers looked to be the NBA’s best team for a two-month stretch, he hobbled out of the playoffs yet again in a loss to Dallas.
The feeling around the league one year ago, said the rival executive, “was just like, ‘Uh-oh, here we go again.’”
Playing under a carefully monitored ramp-up of his workload, it took Leonard one month after his season debut to crack 30 minutes for the first time. One month later, in March, he passed the 40-minute mark. And in the playoffs, he is passing most expectations for how this 33-year-old superstar could still perform.
“He’s back to looking like the best player in the world,” Parks said.
After freezing $2.2 billion in funding, the Trump administration has also singled out Harvard in other key ways: It threatened the university’s nonprofit status and its ability to host international students and faculty, who comprise roughly a quarter of the student body and help fuel research in every part of the school.
Some faculty expressed concern that Harvard would no longer be able to attract top talent. “This is the United States saying to the best and brightest minds around the world that you are not welcome,” said Tarek Masoud, a professor of democracy and governance at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Abdullah Shahid Sial, the undergraduate student body co-president, came to Cambridge from Lahore, Pakistan, hoping to work with the “greatest professors in the world.” Now, he’s written an op-ed to run in The Harvard Crimson in case he is deported for speaking out. “If at any point they want me out, then I would rather go in a much more dignified manner,” he said.
One Harvard scientist was detained and at least 11 other people affiliated with the university have lost their visas in recent weeks, though some were restored by the government on Friday.
In an interview Wednesday, two days after the university filed suit to try to win back its federal funding, Harvard President Alan Garber stood by the school’s decision to take a stand.
“It’s bigger than Harvard,” Garber told “NBC Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt. “We are defending what I believe is one of the most important linchpins of the American economy and way of life — our universities.”
Harrison Fields, a White House spokesperson, criticized the university’s response. “Colleges are hooked on federal cash, and Mr. Garber’s public outburst only fuels the push to shut off the taxpayer money propping up their institution,” he said.
With final exams and graduation now looming, many are bracing for a prolonged battle that could have reverberations for years to come.
Steven Pinker, a well-known psychology professor, co-founded the Council on Academic Freedom at Harvard to promote “free inquiry, intellectual diversity and civil discourse.” He agrees with criticism that Harvard needs more viewpoint diversity but thinks the government’s demands go way too far, he said.
Harvard was told, among other demands in an April 11 letter, to increase viewpoint diversity among faculty and students (subject to the government’s approval), submit its hiring to a federal audit for more than three years, and use an ideological test on admissions for international students.
Harvard professor Steven Pinker views the government’s demands as unconstitutional.Geoffroy Van Der Hasselt / AFP via Getty Images
“I just don’t think Donald Trump has the statutory power to force his vision of viewpoint diversity on private universities,” Pinker said. “Could that mean that we have to have anti-vaxxers in the medical school? Does it mean we have to have ‘Stop the Steal’ theorists in the history department? MAGA theorists in political science programs? You just don’t want to give the government the power to make those decisions.”
When Harvard refused to comply, the Trump administration doubled down. In a letter sent April 16, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security demanded that Harvard provide the names of all international students who have “participated in protests” and their “disciplinary records,” with a deadline of April 30, after which it threatened to revoke Harvard’s ability to host international students.
Harvard has not yet said how it will respond and didn’t reply to questions about its plans.
Some international students feel caught in the crossfire between Harvard and the Trump administration.
“We’re being used as poker chips in a battle with the White House,” said Leo Gerdén, a senior from Stockholm, Sweden. “None of us wanted to take this fight.”
Leo Gerdén, a Swedish international student at Harvard, has demonstrated against the government’s demands.Lucy Lu for NBC News
Sial, the student body co-president, is now working with administrators to ensure summer housing on campus for the increased number of international students planning to bunker down in Cambridge out of fear they’ll be prevented from re-entering the country.
Several other international students spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid threatening their student visa status. They described this moment at Harvard as a doubly difficult: Already under threat of losing their visas — like more than 1,800 international students and recent graduates reportedly have nationwide, prior to the administration’s reversal this week — they’re also at the school that Trump is most closely scrutinizing.
One international law student said she won’t walk near protests, has taken down her social media profiles or made them private and looked into finishing her degree abroad.She keeps emergency hotline numbers and her passport with her at all times in case she is approached.
“I have no disciplinary record. I have no criminal record. I have nothing. And I’m a good student,” she said. “And, sure, I care about things, but that’s why you come to law school.”
An international environmental studies studentsaid they now plan to leave the country once they finish their degree.
“I’m just trying to protect rivers and waterways and the environment,” they said, “and I don’t feel particularly wanted here.”
They regularly have to visit different states to conduct surveys but say they are now more fearful of travel.
“Just having the Harvard international student label on me,” they said, “it makes me a lot more anxious about being around airports or being around security.”
A Palestinian flag hangs from a building on the Harvard campus on April 24.Lucy Lu for NBC News
An undergraduate international student who attended last year’s Harvard encampment and got doxed for their pro-Palestinian activism said they moved off campus and stopped attending classes in person for two weeks, triggered by the detention of Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk. They have canceled an academic trip to Europe and skipped out on iftars during Ramadan — communal meals where Muslims break their fast during the Islamic holy month — worried that ICE might target such gatherings.
“I don’t feel safe at all being around protests and voices, which actually kills me from the inside, because I want to go there, and I want to voice my opinion,” they said.
Though some students applauded Harvard’s stand against Trump, others have mixed feelings about the school’s response thus far.
Harvard didn’t respond to questions about these concerns. But Masoud, of the Harvard Kennedy School, said he thought those changes would have happened even if Trump hadn’t been elected.
