CJ McCollum is apparently a big Kawhi Leonard admirer. A fan on Twitter recently posted his top five players in the world heading into the 2017-18 season and the Spurs superstar was not included among the five.

The Blazers guard replied to ask a pertinent question:

Leonard certainly has a legitimate case to be included in that list. He’s arguably the best two-way player in the entire NBA and is widely considered the best perimeter defender. And while he’s yet to win an MVP unlike four of the five on the list, he does have a Finals MVP and has cracked the top-3 in MVP voting in each of the past two seasons.

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But on the other hand (or claw), it’s hard to think who among the five on the fan’s list should be taken out since all five have equally strong cases for their inclusion. Russell Westbrook and James Harden are probably the candidates to get replaced by Kawhi, but both are coming off truly historic seasons last year and both finished above Leonard in the MVP voting.

Maybe CJ McCollum should offer up his own list to the public for the record and make his case for Kawhi Leonard cracking his top five.