It's Kawhi Leonard's world and we're all just living in it

This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Here’s Mike Sykes.

Good morning, Winners. Nikola Jokic might be the best player in the world today. Shai Gilgeious-Alexander might be the NBA's MVP.

But Kawhi Leonard has been the best player in the playoffs so far, and that should strike fear into the rest of the league.

It's been so long since we've seen Kawhi like this that you really can't blame anyone for forgetting. It's not just that he's healthy right now — though, that's a pretty big part of it. He's only played in six playoff games total in the last three seasons. It's out of sight, out of mind with the Clippers star.

But not only is Leonard healthy right now, he's also playing a style of ball that we just usually don't see him play. He's out there hunting for his shot. He's working the defense. And it's been incredibly effective — to the tune of 39 points on just 19 shots in Game 2. Unreal efficiency.

THE NUGGETS ARE STRUGGLING: No matter who the Nuggets have thrown at Kawhi they've been unable to guard him

Leonard is a scorer. But he's the sort of scorer who opts to fit in with the rest of the team. He never usually forces the issue to get his buckets. They usually come within the flow of the game.

Yesterday? He didn't wait. Leonard was a disruptor on both ends of the court from the jump. The Nuggets just couldn't do anything about it. He shot over double-teams, tough contests and length. He bullied his way to the rim with sheer strength and put the ball up over size. Was his night perfect? Usually, the answer is no. But yesterday, for Leonard, it almost was. He made 15 out of 19 shots and only turned the ball over once.

The Clippers needed every bucket, too. This game — better yet, this series — has been nip and tuck in the best way. There's not much separation between the Clippers and Nuggets. The 1-1 split has really been decided so far by the play of the top stars on each team. We can talk about tough supporting cast choices all we want. That stuff certainly matters.

But on Monday, what mattered most was that Leonard was the best player on the court. Full stop. That's what the playoffs are about — the best players figuring out how to be their best selves against ratcheted-up defenses. You can argue that, through the years, there haven't been many players better at that than Leonard.

If the Clippers get at least three more games of this from him, they'll move on to the next round.

The NCAA is officially pay-for-play now

The NCAA has officially passed a set of rules that will allow schools to pay their players, according to the latest from the Associated Press.

There were nine proposals passed by the organization on Monday, establishing its new pay structure and abolishing hundreds of rules that have enforced the amateurism structure that has been the backbone of college sports for decades.

The rules:

• Create a clearinghouse for name, image and likeness deals that come from third parties and are worth $600 or more.
• Establish reporting requirements for schools paying their athletes.
• Establish a payment pool of approximately $20.5 million for the largest schools next year. Think of this as a salary cap.
• Erases scholarship limits for students but establishes roster caps for teams across sports to replace the scholarship cap.
• Allow for schools to pay their players directly.
• Sets up an enforcement committee run by the NCAA's conferences.

The House settlement that pushes all these changes forward still has to be approved by a judge, but the stage has been set. College athletes will be paid to play their sports next year. The NCAA will forever be changed because of this.

There will be bumps along the road, to be sure. There will also undoubtedly be some angst behind the player caps established by these rules. But, in the end, players are finally being rewarded for their work at the highest level. In the end, that's a good thing.

Alex Ovechkin has 74 goals in 152 playoff games...

And, somehow, this game-winning goal he scored against the Canadiens is the first one he'd ever scored in overtime.

No idea how that's possible, but here we are. The Capitals take a 1-0 series lead against Montreal with this one. The Habs fought back after falling down 2-0 early on in the game but the Caps ended things fairly quickly into the overtime period.

It's interesting that they were pushed that far, though. There's an 11-win difference and 20-point differential between these two teams, but you certainly couldn't tell that from watching this game in its later stages. Maybe this was just a bit of rust the Caps needed to shake off. But, even after the loss, if you're Montreal you've got to be a bit more confident heading into Game 2.

Quick hits: Jamal Murray vs. Norm Powell ... Our latest NFL mock! ... and more

— Here's Christian D'Andrea with the latest NFL mock draft just a few days before the actual show begins. Tap in!

— Bryan Kalbrosky has more on the scuffle between Jamal Murray and Norman Powell during last night's game. Intense but hilarious.

— Tennessee and UCLA basically traded QBs. Cory Woodroof has more.

— Trey Murphy is giving the Lakers pointers on how to guard Naz Reid. It's pretty simple stuff, actually. Just guard him.

— Here's Andrew Joseph on NCAA players entering the transfer portal despite not having any eligibility left.

— Nico Harrison has to stop talking about this Luka trade, man. It gets worse every time.

That's a wrap, folks. Thanks so much for reading. Peace.

-Sykes ✌️