When healthy, Kawhi Leonard is one of the best basketball players in the world. As an elite defender and expert scorer, there are very few weaknesses to his game.
Unfortunately, Leonard just isn’t on the floor very often. In fact, since the 2016-17 season, Leonard hasn’t had a single-season stretch where he has played over 60 regular season games.
Even now, after missing the entirety of last season, Kawhi has already missed some games — and some people are really getting fed up.
Stephen A. Smith Goes Off On Kawhi Leonard For History Of No Shows
On First Take this week, Leonard was mentioned in a statement from Stephen A. Smith. Recognizing Leonard’s knack for sitting out, he labeled him as the ‘champion’ of missing games and challenged the Clippers star to be more consistently available for his team.
“I wanna remind everybody in 2017-2018, when he only played 9 games for the San Antonio Spurs, he missed 72 games that year. He missed 22 games the year they won the championship in Toronto. He missed 25 games the year after, his first year in LA with the Clippers. He missed the year after that. Then he misses the entire season this past year. And now, he’s already missing games. He’s only played 2 games into a 4-game season. This is utterly ridiculous… somehow, someway, we can’t seem to get him on the court, we can’t seem to get him healthy. He still gets his money though. Something’s gotta give. I mean, damn. I can’t talk about anybody anymore when it comes to missing games, Kawhi Leonard is the pro! He is a two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP and this brother is also a champion at missing games. Nobody does it better!”
"Kawhi Leonard is the PRO [at missing games]. He is a two-time champion, two-time Finals MVP and this brother is also a champion at missing games. Nobody does it better!"
😳 @stephenasmith pic.twitter.com/lz8fzrwRE6
— First Take (@FirstTake) October 26, 2022
It is quite concerning that Kawhi has already missed 2 games into a 4-game season after literally not playing a single NBA game in over a year.
Whether it’s load management, injury management, or for some other reason entirely, Leonard cannot stay on the floor, and it has pushed both him and the Clippers into obscurity.
If Kawhi can be more consistent, and stop finding excuses to sit out, the Clippers could finally become the team they’ve been trying to be for all these years. But at this point, unless Leonard proves otherwise, there is no reason to believe that the Clips will be in their peak form come playoff time.
