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Kawhi Leonard is arguably the best player in the world today. Leonard put up one of the best postseason performances in NBA history in 2019 to lead the Toronto Raptors to its first NBA championship.
A year later, Kawhi Leonard has the opportunity to do that again, but this time, with a different team. The two-way superstar is having a magnificent 2019-20 campaign and will look to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to its first title in franchise history.
Coming off an all-time great playoff run, debates on where Kawhi Leonard ranks among the all-time greats began this year. Will another NBA championship and Finals MVP with a third team finally secure his place among the most elite players in NBA history? Perhaps he may very well be on the way.
His career averages so far read as such: 18.6 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.8 assists, while shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three. Not quite mind-blowing, but impressive nonetheless.
Unlike many all-time greats, Kawhi Leonard didn't have quite the fast start in his career. He began as a role player and eventually rose up the ranks over the years. He came out of college as a defensive player with a sub-par offensive game.
Now, he is one of the best shot creators in the league and owns one of the deadliest offensive arsenals in the game. Kawhi Leonard can pretty much do whatever he wants on offense. He can make the three, drive to the basket, pull-up from mid-range, post-up, you name it. In fact, many put him in the conversation with Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant in terms of his mid-range and post-up game acumen. That's as elite a company as it gets.
Now let's take a look at the career resume. 2 NBA championships, 2 Finals MVPs, 2 Defensive Player of the Year awards, 3 All-NBA nods (2 First Team and 2 Second team), 5 All-Defensive teams, and 4 All-Star appearances. That's as Hall of Fame worthy as it can get.
In addition, he won his two titles and Finals MVP's on different teams. Only two others have accomplished that feat: LeBron James and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Only he and Abdul-Jabbar have done so in different conferences.
With his accolades and accomplishments, especially in the playoffs, is Leonard already an all-timer if he walks away from the game today? Not many would agree.
If he wins another NBA championship and another Finals MVP with the Clippers, maybe as early as this season, he would become the only player in NBA history to do so with three different squads. He would also become the first player to lead two franchises to their first ever NBA championship. Should those accomplishments be enough to elevate him to all-time great status? No doubt.
What many argue against naming Kawhi Leonard as an all-time great at this point of his career is his longevity as a superstar. Looking into his career so far, he's probably had five seasons as a top-10 player in the league, with three as arguably the best in the league.
Leonard had the luxury of starting out his career on a really good team like the San Antonio Spurs. The no. 15 overall pick in the 2011 draft began his career as a 3-and-D option while playing behind all-timers like Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker under Gregg Popovich's system. He arrived exclusively as a defensive player with an offensively raw game.
Over the years, his role grew and he gradually improved. In the 2014 NBA Finals, Kawhi Leonard finally arrived on the scenes and won NBA Finals MVP on a Spurs team that defeated the two-time defending champion Miami Heat in convincing fashion to avenge their heartbreaking 2013 Finals loss.
He averaged 17.8 points and 6.4 rebounds and shot 61.2 percent from the field in that series while also taking on LeBron James on the other end of the floor. In the last three games, Kawhi Leonard was clearly San Antonio's best player. He upped his numbers to 23.7 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 2.0 steals, and 2.0 blocks, and shot an insane 68.6 percent clip. All of that just a few weeks before turning 23.
Kawhi Leonard finally took the reigns as San Antonio's best player during the 2015-16 season, where he averaged 21.2 points, the first 20-point campaign of his career. He made All-NBA First team and finished second in MVP voting that season, while leading the Spurs to 67-15 record. By this point, Leonard was a surefire top-10 player and arguably a top-5 player in the league.
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In 2016-17, Kawhi Leonard further expanded his offensive game, increasing his nightly output to 25.5 points. He finished third in MVP voting that year and made the All-NBA First team once again. This is the first year that Leonard entered the conversation as the best player in the NBA along with the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry. Those who went with couldn't really go wrong.
After that, he had that injury-riddled and drama-filled campaign that eventually led to his departure from San Antonio. The Spurs traded him to the Toronto Raptors in the 2018 off-season.
After missing all but 9 games in the 2017-18 season, Kawhi Leonard returned in the 2018-19 season and had a magical redemption campaign. He reclaimed his status as one of the top superstars in the NBA and averaged a career-best 26.6 points while shooting 49.6 percent from the field.
Despite the elite numbers, he didn't quite get the recognition he deserved because he only played in 60 games in 2018-19, making just the All-NBA Second Team. The Raptors placed him under the infamous “load management” program to keep him fresh for the postseason.
This ended up paying dividends for them as Kawhi Leonard had one of the all-time great individual playoff runs of all time. He turned it up a notch in the 2019 postseason with averages of 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 3.9 assists, on 49-38-88 shooting splits to lead the Raptors to their first title in franchise history. At this point, Leonard went back to being in the conversation for best player in the league.
This season, Kawhi Leonard is turning another MVP-worthy campaign and is still in the conversation of best player in the world. Despite struggling at some points this year, he has led the Clippers to the no. 2 seed in the West. Known for elite offense and defensive, he has also become a much better playmaker this season, averaging a career-best 5.0 assists per game.
Not many are ready to name Leonard as an all-time great just yet, mainly because he hasn't been a top player in the league for a considerably long time. Looking at his career, he only has four seasons in which he's a top-10 player in the league, three of which, including this one, he's in the conversation of best player in the league.
Kawhi Leonard recently just turned 29 last June. Ideally, there should still be plenty of years left in his prime, and there certainly could be. However, there are concerns with how the two-time Finals MVP's health would hold up as he heads into his 30's.
Nonetheless, it goes without saying that Leonard may still need to pad on his accomplishments a bit more, or perhaps turn in a few more superstar seasons before hoops junkies consider him in the same breathe of the very best the game has ever seen.
The playoff accolades are right up there and it reached as high as anybody can get. But perhaps winning another Larry O.B. as he would call it and add another Bill Russell Finals MVP would finally solidify his standing as one of the best to ever lace up a pair of sneakers.
