For the past 5+ years, Kawhi Leonard has consistently been one of the NBA’s top two-way players. His scoring ability, combined with his amazing defensive expertise, has set him up for a long and prosperous career.
Unfortunately, for all the talent Kawhi displays, he has had significant trouble staying on the court throughout his career.
It started in 2017 when he missed 73 games for the Spurs in what was the beginning of the end of his tenure in San Antonio. In the seasons that have followed, Kawhi has only played in at least 60 games once, during the 2018-19 Cinderella run that saw Toronto raise the Larry O’Brien trophy.
And now, after missing an entire season, Leonard’s return to the court has been anything but encouraging, with the Clippers fearing his latest injury may be worse than originally believed. In fact, already, Leonard has missed more games than he has played this season, matching a pretty ugly trend for his career — and it hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Former NBA Champion Flames Kawhi Leonard For Unavailability Throughout His Career
In a recent appearance on ‘KG Certified,’ former Celtics superstar Paul Pierce gave his take on the Leonard situation and called out the 5x All-Star for seemingly always finding a way to miss games.
“We don’t hold Kawhi accountable enough because him being at the status that he is, we mention him in the same breath of LeBron (James), KD (Kevin Durant) when he’s at his best,” Pierce said. “But then how we talk about Anthony Davis not being available, we don’t put Kawhi in that group because think about his last four, five years. He’s missed about two seasons, always out, ain’t really put a lot of games together, but we never talk about that.”
Guys like Anthony Davis often get clowned for their ability to stay healthy, but Kawhi Leonard may be the ultimate street-clothes performer. Since his arrival in Clipperland, he doesn’t have anything to show for his years of work there aside from a few playoff series wins.
And while Pierce’s words may be harsh, he’s not the only one who feels that Kawhi doesn’t get enough attention for what has been happening throughout his career.
Whether you love him or hate him, it’s impossible to deny that Kawhi is one of the best in the world when he’s healthy and at the top of his game. The problem is, those circumstances are so rare nowadays that we’re starting to forget just how good he really is.
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