Kawhi
Two weeks ago I almost wrote something and then I didn’t. It wasn’t like it was a bad idea or anything, but there was something I was more obsessed with that day so I put it off. I was going to write about Kawhi Leonard, and how regardless of how long this Clippers playoff run lasts, I’m gonna enjoy it because I don’t know how long Kawhi will be around for.
Kawhi has bad knees. We know this. He’s been the poster child for “load management” a phrase typically used as a pejorative to mean “guy who isn’t injured and doesn’t want to play.” That is not Kawhi Leonard, rather the “load management” is actually more in the realm of “injury management.” I’m not a doctor, but if it came out that Kawhi had some sort of degenerative knee issue it wouldn’t surprise me based on the frequency and consistency of his knee injuries over the last 5+ years.
This isn’t my normal cynic brain working though, rather my logical brain drawing on past experience from years following sports. Everybody has a limit to how much they’re going to punish their body. Every athlete makes the decision to sacrifice their potential comfort for their chosen sport- athletics get people hurt, and nobody understands that better than athletes. Some people have a lower threshold for how far they’re willing to go- some athletes opt for early retirement after they’ve made enough money, or maybe they opt for retirement after they’ve proven what they want to on the court/field/pitch.
I am acutely familiar with athletes retiring before what the public believes to be their time. Not only am I a Colts fan, but Andrew Luck was the man that grabbed my attention when I first started watching football. I know that there’s sometimes more going on in the background with these injuries, and when Andrew Luck announced his retirement that fact became even more clear to me.
Kawhi Leonard is one of my all-time favorite basketball players. Admittedly, my enjoyment of Kawhi was born of hatin’. Kawhi Leonard was arguably the best player on the 2014 Spurs, the team that dogwalked the Big 3 Heat (the bane of my 11 year old existence). I was always partial to the Spurs, due in part to the fact that they were the team facing the Heat, and partially as a small act of rebellion towards my father as Tim Duncan “bored me to death for 20 years,” according to him. Tim Duncan is one of my favorite athletes ever.
Kawhi went from “important role player” to “bonafide superstar” over the next couple of years, and remained one of my favorite players.
The 2019 playoff run from Kawhi Leonard is probably the best non-lebron playoff run I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing. Kawhi plays a beautiful brand of offense, and when coupled with his swarming defensive presence he wraps himself around your favorite NBA team and begins to suffocate them. No mercy.
He hit the single most devastating shot I’ve seen on live television against Philadelphia, a moment that was my lock screen for like two years.
The “robot” stuff always kind of bothered me, mostly because a lot of it stemmed from him not sharing details of his personal life, which is something I think celebrities should always be free to keep to themselves. That being said, there’s something so calculating and automatic about his game. It’s almost robotic, except with the occasional moment that reminds you you’re actually watching one of the best athletes of a generation, not a robot.
This playoff run was not as long as I, or anybody, had hoped.
Kawhi played in games one and two and make no mistake- he balled the fuck out. He put up 34 six and six with two steals to go along with it.
Superman is back.
But then he was out for game three, and it was very similar to how it felt when he got hurt during the 2021 playoffs. “Something is wrong with him and he’s out for these next couple games but we’re not gonna get more detailed than that” is historically not a very good sign for anybody, but when it’s Kawhi it always feels more dire.
Russell Westbrook put up a valiant effort in the games without Kawhi, but the Clippers ultimately lost to the Suns in five games, crushing the dream of a potential Kawhi comeback. Then it came out that he had a torn meniscus, in the same knee in which he tore his ACL in 2021.
Kawhi got two playoff games before his body broke down on him again. It’s the type of cruel, stupid situation that sounds like the beginning of a great comeback story. But how exhausting must it be to keep having to make these comebacks?
I’m not sure what the future of the NBA looks like without Kawhi Leonard. It’s not something I want to think about, but frankly if he had a press conference tomorrow announcing his retirement I wouldn’t blame him.
Kawhi is 31 and he’s had a first ballot hall of fame resume since 2019- realistically if he doesn’t want to play any more he would walk into the hall of fame, and I’d happily vote for him.
I don’t want it to be over though. I want another healthy playoff run from Kawhi. I want to see him break hearts with the precision of a surgeon. I want to see him build a wall around Giannis again. I want to see him join the currently-single-member club of players to win a Finals MVP on three different teams.
I hope that I eventually get to retweet this piece with “he did it again,” but if I don’t I know that Kawhi Leonard will remain, to me, one of the most impactful athletes of my lifetime.