Los Angeles Clippers fans will not love Stephen A. Smith's latest hot take on Kawhi Leonard. Following LA's defeat at the hands of the Phoenix Suns on Thursday night, Smith called Leonard one of the “worst superstars” the game has ever seen, per ESPN First Take and Stephen A. Smith on Twitter.
“Kawhi Leonard should be on the list of one of the worst superstars this game has ever seen,” Smith said on First Take. “That's right, I said it.”
Smith then clarified that he was not referring to Kawhi Leonard's talent.
“Because anybody that watches basketball knows I'm obviously not talking about his skills,” Smith continued. “We know the brother is big time, we know that as a talent he's a superstar… he is that dude. But when you talk about a superstar that is unreliable, I want somebody that's pointing me out somebody more flagrant than him.”
Smith even added that he'd rather have Kyrie Irving instead of Kawhi Leonard in the playoffs, since Irving is “more reliable” than Leonard according to Smith.
Kawhi Leonard has been hampered by injuries over the past few seasons. As a result, Leonard dealt with no shortage of load management throughout the 2022-23 campaign. Overall, Leonard hasn't played in 61 or more games in a single regular season since the 2016-17 campaign. He appeared in 52 total games this year with the Clippers.
It is difficult to blame Leonard for his absences. However, the point of load management is to prepare a player for the playoffs. The Clippers narrowly lost to the Suns by a final score of 129-124 despite being without Leonard and Paul George. Had Leonard been active for Game 3, the Clippers would have had a tremendous chance of winning the game and taking a 2-1 series lead.
Los Angeles would love for Kawhi Leonard to return from injury and play in Game 4, but nothing is certain at the moment.
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