Has there ever been a career like Kawhi Leonard’s?
No player this century has epitomized the highs and lows of being a superstar, and no player has seen the peaks and troughs of public approval ratings fluctuate as much as he has. In 2019, he scored an unforgettable winning goal and became the best player in the world by force of will. In less than five years, he went from one of the league’s proudest winners to a player known for injury flare-ups and disappointments in arguably the NBA’s most cursed franchise.
On Thursday, Leonard declared himself open for the 2024-25 season, writing another cruel chapter in his record of missed opportunities. Now that the Los Angeles Clippers have lost talent and future assets, it’s unlikely Leonard, along with Paul George, will lead this team to the promised land he hinted might be possible in 2019. It seems impossible. His legacy of two rings, two Finals, MVP, and one of the few to actually hold the Most Valuable Player award belt is currently overshadowed by a series of countless injuries and failures. It looks like it is. And if the 33-year-old doesn’t mastermind a triumphant final performance, his stellar resume may somehow go down as a tragedy.
Leonard’s 2019 season was a religious experience. In a world where LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are tearing the league to shreds, Leonard declared himself the best player in the NBA without anyone asking for permission. He was controlling and destructive and seemed to come out of nowhere. The Toronto Raptors took a huge risk due to his injury history and expiring contract, but Leonard somehow paid off, winning the franchise’s first and to date only title.
The only time I remember where I was during the last two free agency decisions was in 2016, when Kevin Durant posted “My Next Chapter,” which produced the greatest lineup of all time, and I was in New Hampshire. I was just sitting on my porch at home. Then on June 10, 2019, I was at my friend Michael’s house when Kawhi Leonard, then the best player in the world, chose the Los Angeles Clippers and brought Paul George with him. I still hear Chris Vernon say in an emergency episode of The Mismatched, “While we were all sleeping, Kawhi Leonard conducted the orchestra!”
Today, that season feels like a glorious oasis in a desert of injury-riddled disasters. From his final years with the Spurs ending in bitter disagreements over injury rehabilitation to his most recent half-decade slump in Los Angeles. It would be easy to argue that his 2014 and 2019 rings and Finals MVPs prove all of this. Usually, being named Most Valuable Player on a championship team is enough to cement a career as “complete.”
But I would argue that’s not the case. Leonard has now been a superstar-level player for 10 years with three different teams, but his most personal homecoming game with the Clippers was marred by failure and injury. He was drafted by a legendary Spurs team that grew on the success of the existing team and was traded to a team in Toronto that he didn’t necessarily want to be a part of, but still made the most of. His real personal decision was to join the Clippers, with an ultimatum to play for the Clippers if Los Angeles could acquire Paul George.
That was his “decision.” His “My Next Chapter.” The moves for Leonard, James, and Durant were made in much the same context. The best players in the world have created a super team that will probably run the league in the near future. However, James and Durant’s moves resulted in two rings each. Leonard was in hell with injuries.
I would argue that this, not San Antonio or Toronto, was the defining moment of his career and therefore should be the first sentence of his legacy. His championship can’t completely wash away the bitter taste of the past five years, and aside from a few unexpected heroics, that’s unfortunately how it remains. He currently has a contract worth more than $400 million with the Clippers, who will almost certainly end up remembering him more as a harbinger of disaster than a seeming savior.
None of this is about condemnation. It is impossible to predict injuries beyond knowing that certain players are more prone to injury. After 2019, Leonard probably should have been in the conversation with Durant and James as a trio of forwards from the same generation. However, as was the case with Bill Walton, his lower body hindered that legacy. Probably the best comparison of his career so far. There was some great solo ring, and some as a key contributor on a generational team, but injuries and the “what if” Walton conversation always includes this as the first sentence.
It may not be Leonard’s fault, but injuries derailed what would have been one of the top five careers of this generation. At this rate, we’ll no longer be able to look at his undoubtedly impressive resume and wonder what the hell could have been. He’s still a Hall of Famer, but his plaque in Springfield can no longer be defined solely by the tree ring on which it was made. And with this latest ambiguous setback, the only thing certain about Leonard’s future is that the first sentence of his career epitaph will always be, “What if?”
