Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard hasn't had the traditional NBA career that a player of his caliber has had. He's still got the respect of some of the game's best like Kevin Durant of the Brooklyn Nets.

In speaking with reporter Chris Henderson following the Nets win over the New York Knicks, Durant was asked about his Mt. Rushmore of all-time small forwards.

“LeBron [James], Kawhi [Leonard] and Larry Bird,” Durant said.

This isn't the first time Durant has been very complimentary of Kawhi Leonard. In years past, Durant spoke highly of Leonard, who developed rapidly

“He’s just a savant,” Durant explained of Clippers star Kawhi Leonard following a game in February 2021. “He plays the game at his pace. He is in control out there of the offensive plays. He’s a three-level scorer, so you’ve just gotta be ready for him to do anything out there. I tried to close out, not let him beat me on the drive because he’s strong driving to his right, but he also can shoot the 3 and the mid-range so it’s tough.

“Just trying to make him shoot over my length and not give him anything easy. But he’s a great player, he’s a Hall of Fame player, so just gotta make his shots tough.”

When Kawhi Leonard first came to Los Angeles back in 2019, Kevin Durant had the Clippers coming out of the Western Conference because of Leonard's greatness.

“Players don’t [sleep on him]. He’s got the longest paragraph on the scouting report. We go through an in-depth scouting report before the game. He can pretty much do everything. You can’t dribble around him cuz he’s gonna steal the ball. It’s still tough for me to pull out all my shit against Kawhi.”

It is interesting to look at Kawhi Leonard's career, one that is a lock to reach the Hall-of-Fame. At age 31, Leonard has two NBA Championships and two NBA Finals MVP's to his name, not to mention a five All-Star appearances, a pair of Defensive Player of the Year awards, a 2019-20 All-Star MVP award, and a recent naming to the NBA's 75th Anniversary team.

At the same time, Leonard has only played in 578 of a possible 964 regular season games. He's ranked 50th among active players in scoring with 11,110 career points, behind players like Andrew Wiggins, Devin Booker, and Karl-Anthony Towns.

Kawhi Leonard is currently sidelined with knee stiffness and has missed the last nine games. Unfortunately, Leonard not get to play in Saturday's matchup between the Clippers and Kevin Durant's Nets.