When the NBA highlights its greatest players of the 2010s, LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are made the focal points of that era. One forgotten star that often gets left out of that conversation is Kawhi Leonard.
Unlike his peers, Leonard’s quiet and calm nature have kept him out of the spotlight for much of his career. Despite this, Leonard’s achievements cannot be overlooked.
Leonard played college basketball at San Diego State, where he made the Men’s Consensus All-America team in his sophomore season. The Indiana Pacers drafted Leonard with the 15th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft. Indiana then traded him to the San Antonio Spurs that same night.
The 6-foot-7 forward made an immediate impact in San Antonio. His defense quickly earned him a starting role with the Spurs. Along with his strong defense, Leonard’s offensive game only continued to get better as the years went on.
In just his third season, Leonard helped the Spurs defeat the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals. He also won his first NBA Finals MVP in the process. The media praised Leonard for his defense on LeBron James throughout the series.
Leonard’s next few seasons in San Antonio saw him become a two-time NBA All-Star and NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Leonard was also in the conversation for NBA MVP multiple times.
In the 2017 Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors, Leonard injured his ankle after landing on Zaza Pachulia’s foot on a jump shot attempt, ending his season. This was just the first of many injuries Leonard would sustain in his career.
During the 2017-18 season, Leonard’s relationship with the Spurs would deteriorate. Both parties had disagreements on Leonard’s injury management. San Antonio would trade Leonard to the Toronto Raptors before the start of the 2018-19 season.
In the 2019 playoffs, Leonard had arguably one of the greatest playoff runs in NBA history. In 24 games, Leonard averaged 30.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists en route to winning his second finals MVP and leading Toronto to their first ever NBA championship.
This would be his only season with the Raptors, as he would go on to join the LA Clippers in the 2019 offseason.
With the Clippers, Leonard has been unable to reach those heights as he did with his previous two teams.
In the 2020 playoffs, the Clippers infamously blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals. Since then, Leonard has not been healthy for an entire playoff run.
The following year, Leonard tore his ACL in a Western Conference Semifinal game against the Utah Jazz after colliding with Joe Ingles. This ACL tear kept him out of action for the entirety of the 2021-22 season.
The same story would repeat itself in 2023 and 2024, as Leonard would sustain injuries to his right knee that ended his playoff runs early.
Injuries have been a recurring theme throughout Leonard’s career. This has caused many fans to label him as the face of “load management.” Despite all of his injuries, Leonard has been able to achieve a lot in his career and has left his mark as one of the greatest players of his era.
Leonard is now 33 years old and helping the Clippers stay afloat in a loaded Western Conference. The playoffs are approaching and only time will tell if Leonard has another legendary run left in the tank.
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