How A Shy Role Player Became An NBA Legend

Kawhi Leonard wasn't always so shy and quiet he was once full of love and laughter until one night murder changed him here's the story of Kawhi Leonard and how he transformed from a role player into an NBA superstar Kawhi Leonard grew up as the youngest of five children and then just five years old his parents divorce but even though kawhi's mother took custody it was his dad who was instrumental in kauai's sports career Mark Leonard was a former football player and he pushed Kawhi towards the Gridiron with a big athletic frame long arms and enormous hands Kawhi was a talented defensive back and a wide receiver but Kawhi gave up football as a high school sophomore to focus entirely on basketball at first his father was mad because basketball wasn't a safe bet Kawhi was no Prodigy like LeBron James but Kawhi loved basketball more than anything and that's when his work ethic came on full display he'd stayed late after every practice sometimes shooting and dribbling up to four hours after everybody's left the gym then during kawaii's Junior season one night would change his life forever just as Kawhi was prepping to play a high school tournament his father was finishing up his day at their family-owned Car Wash where Kawhi worked every summer and Leonard senior was more than excited to close the shop and go see his son play it was a good day until a stranger walked into the car wash approached kawhi's dad and pointed a gun at him just as Kawhi was approaching his school gym he got a phone call his father was dead just 24 hours later his MLK High School had another game and Against All Odds Kawaii showed up and played emotionally distraught Kawhi still finished with 17 points but as soon as the game ended he broke down crying in his mother's arms while some people would use such tragedy as an excuse to stop playing Kawhi used it as fuel his demeanor changed and he mostly kept quiet after his father's death he led his game do all the talk in his senior year he led his team to a 30-3 record with 23 points 13 rebounds four assists and three blocks on average afterwards he was named California's Mrbasketball however despite the obvious Improvement in his game Leonard wasn't yet a nationally recognized name and was ranked as only the 48th best high school player in the country colleges who tried to reach him weren't too crazy about him either as he was notoriously silent and wouldn't answer his phone for weeks nonetheless he received an offer from UCLA but Kawhi ultimately chose San Diego State because they guaranteed him a starting spot as a freshman Kauai averaged 13 points in 10 rebounds pushing the Aztecs to a conference title and the bid to the NCAA tournament Leonard wanted to put his name in the NBA draft immediately after his freshman year but his coaches advised him not to do it even though he was an excellent rebounder and Defender Kawhi Couldn't Shoot he shot just 20 percent for three even though opponents often left him wide open knowing that he can't hit an ocean from a boat so Kawhi listened and decided to stay in his sophomore season he averaged 16 points in 10. 5 boards with not great but not terrible 30 accuracy from three San Diego State repeated his conference champions and would make it to the Sweet 16 before losing to Future Champs Kemba Walker in Connecticut Kawhi was named the second team All-American and put his name on the 2011 NBA draft during the NBA draft combine every Scout raved about his physical attributes six foot seven 225 pounds with a pterodactyl seven foot three inch wingspan and enormous 11 inch hands some of the biggest claws in the history of the combine everybody was drooling at his defensive potential but nobody thought he'd ever become a polished defensive player Kawhi was a classic tweener not big enough to do damage in the post and not technically good enough to create from the outside with an unreliable shot Kawhi dropped all the way to number 15 when he was finally selected by the Indiana Pacers however just moments after he was drafted there was another shock for Kawaii he was immediately traded to San Antonio for George Hill a third year point guard in Greg Popovich's favorite player Popovich later said that this trade was the hardest decision he ever made because he knew he needed to get a great defender in the draft but he wasn't sure that kawhi's offense was going to pan out they decided to roll the dice and learn to join the Spurs where he would immediately fit in due to his work ethic and No Nonsense approach to basketball as a rookie Kawaii quickly started playing crunch time minutes which is not something that Popovich usually does with the rookies but Leonard's smothering defense soon guaranteed him starting spot and he even surprised with his shooting sure he wasn't doing much with the ball in his hands but he was very effective as a spot-up shooter shooting 38 percent from three still Kawhi only took six shots per game averaging 8. 5 rebounds and one assist and finishing fourth in Rookie of the Year voting Greg Popovich said this about Kauai after his rookie season I think he is going to be a star at both ends of the Court he is a really special player and what makes me so confident about him is that he wants to be a great player so badly and it didn't take long for the world to see what coach pop was talking about Kawhi improved his averages across the board in his second season taking smart efficient shots and shooting 38 from Deep on three attempts per game but what was most impressive is how he increased his level of play in the playoffs which is extremely rare for such a young player Lerner was the Spurs best defender in their third best overall player behind Tony Parker and Tim Duncan San Antonio lost just two games on their way to the finals where they were awaited by the best player in the world LeBron James and his Miami Heat Hawaii guarded LeBron better than anyone in the NBA at the time and was the only person that could slow him down when the spur first one it was because LeBron was shooting below 50 percent largely thanks to kawhi's Long disruptive hands however the heat made adjustments and James started hitting shots from the outside in the pivotal game six when the Spurs were up three games to two James orchestrated a miraculous comeback in the fourth quarter still the Spurs had a five-point lead in the final minute and it seemed a lot that they would win the title until one of the biggest shots in NBA history took place and changed the narrative in the overtime the heat prevailed and took the series to game seven which was again decided in the final minutes even though Kawhi took away his driving Lanes LeBron knew that he needs to make one jump shot for the win and he did James finished with 37 points proving his status as the best in the world and Miami stole the championship away from the Spurs Kawhi averaged 15 points 11 rebounds and two steals in the finals and he put the world on notice he arrived on the big scene but Kawhi being Kauai he didn't rest on his Laurels Leonard worked extremely hard in the off season further improving his shot and putting on muscle for the 2014 season his efficiency increased but his numbers stayed actually the same however that's mainly because the Spurs played an extremely team oriented brand of basketball with their best scorer average just 16 points and nobody on the team played more than 30 minutes per game San Antonio finished with the best record in the NBA and Kawhi earned the nine to the second all-defensive team the Spurs proved to be the best in the west securing another finals with Miami after the first two games the series was tied at one apiece and it seems like we were getting another nail biter but Kawhi had other plans he dominated in game three with a game-high 29 Points and Stellar defense on King James even though LeBron made a ton of tough shots and actually had an extremely effective series Kawhi bothered him every possession and didn't let him breathe LeBron had no room to dribble Leonard made it tough for him to even catch the ball and limited his touches James had to work like hell for every basket he made and LeBron knew that his best chance was when Leonard was out of the game and that's where James was most aggressive when Kawaii subbed in we could see visible frustration from the cape because he knew that his points were going to be much harder to get game three turned out to be a blowout and still were game 4 and game five Miami had no answer to the Spurs phenomenal ball movement and many people believe that the 2014 Spurs played the most beautiful basketball ever even though Tony Parker scored one more Point than Kawhi in the series Leonard was named the finals MVP due to his impeccable defense and astronomic shooting percentages Kauai averaged 18 points on 61 from the field and 58 from three and was the second youngest Finals MVP in NBA history behind Magic Johnson during the finals due to his gigantic hands and the way they wrecked havoc on Miami's players Kawhi got nicknamed The Claw after the title the Spurs quietly but noticeably gave the keys to the team to Kawaii in 2015 Leonard led the Spurs in minutes field goal attempts and points per game however his office wasn't something people were talking about because Kawhi was still making headlines with this defense Leonard led the league in steals with 2.

3 per game and some of those looked like he was taking candy from a baby San Antonio had the second best defense in the NBA and Kauai deservingly won the defensive play of the Year award however the Spurs lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Clippers primarily due to poor performances from Parker and Ginobili Kauai did his part averaging 20 points with excellent shooting numbers again improving all of his stats in the playoffs then came 2016 and brought the complete transformation of Kawhi Leonard from just the defensive stopper into a full-blown Superstar he wasn't just a cutter and a spot-up shooter anymore kawhi's toolbox now included post-ups turnaround jumpers fadeaways and attacking the mismatch in the paint he busted the myth that he could not create his own shot and Popovich finally started using him in pick and rolls due to his improved handle Leonard averaged over 20 points per game for the first time made his first All-Star team and repeated as defensive player of the year he was also runner-up for the MVP award behind Steph Curry however the playoffs offered another disappointment and the second round exit against OKC will mostly be remembered by Tim Duncan's final NBA games in 2017 Leonard improved again just like he did in every season up to that point without Tim Duncan and with the Aging Parker and Ginobili Kauai was now the clear leader of the team he averaged a career-high 25 0. 5 points and 3. 5 assists with two made threes per game and despite his increased stroll on offense his defense didn't suffer and he made his third consecutive First Team all defense Leonard led the Spurs to the Conference finals against the Warriors who were the heavy favorites but when game one started it wasn't Kevin Durant's Steph Curry or Klay Thompson who was pulling all the strings and dominating it was Kawhi San Antonio had a 20-point lead at halftime and the claw was Unstoppable scoring 26 points in 24 minutes on the court and then the Spurs got a taste of their own medicine and Bad Karma changed their franchise forever in the early 2000s their small forward Bruce Bowen was putting his feet in players landing area causing multiple players to injure their ankles one decade later their star small forward got injured the same way when Zaza pachulia planted his feet underneath Kauai when he raised up for a jump shot Leonard was unable to continue and without him the Spurs lost the 21 point lead he didn't play for the rest of the series and each of the next three games was a blowout that's how helpless San Antonio was without him Kawhi was only 26 years old just entering the prime of his career in San Antonio counted on him to be their leader for the next 10 years but to the surprise of the world this scenario turned out to be the furthest thing from the truth because when the 2017 season started Kauai missed the first 27 games to a quad injury he then played in nine games but he continued to feel pain the problem was that the Spurs doctor cleared him to play almost accusing him of lying about being injured and when you make such accusations to a player who's all business and No Nonsense that's where you piss him off and test his loyalty Kawhi wanted a second opinion and found his own doctors he stopped communicating with the team and nobody knew what he was thinking about the season ended and Leonard was still silent it was obvious that the impossible was now becoming inevitable and that Kawhi was going to get traded on July 18 2018 Leonard and Danny Greene were traded to the Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan and yakaporo his arrival in Toronto stole all the headlines just like the introductory press conference when the season started it was clear that Kawhi was arguably the best player in the NBA and that his maturity as a player New Heights he averaged career-high 26.

6 points and 7. 3 rebounds on excellent shooting efficiency but his progress can't be explained with numbers what was fascinating about him is how easy he made it look and how defenses could do nothing to stop him from scoring you name it Kawhi was scoring in every way possible and he did it so nonchalantly that it seemed like he was hitting practice shots he also became a clear leader of the team and for the first time he embraced the role and became much louder on the court and during team meetings if he wasn't doing load management he might have won the MVP that year but that's who Kawhi was he never cared about individual Awards all he wanted was to win in the postseason and he even admitted that he thinks the regular season is just a warm-up but when the playoffs started it was clear that Kawhi was more than warmed up he opened the first round with 28 points on average on 55 shooting and 54 for three in the second round against Philadelphia he averaged 38 points and 62 shooting in the first four games however the 76ers were stacked and the series went to game 7. it was an extremely tight game with constantly changes and Jimmy Butler tied the score with four seconds to go the Raptors had one final shot to win the game and the series when Kawhi got the ball he dribbled to the right closely guarded by Joel embiid and Ben Simmons Hawaii raised up and shot and as the buzzer sounded the ball was still bouncing on the rim but after four bounces it finally fell inside the hook Kawhi let out a big scream and his teammates hugged him and this was the first game seven buzzer beater in NBA history in the Conference finals against the league MVP Giannis antetokupo and the Bucks things looked Bleak for Toronto as they lost the first two games but then Kawaii started guarding Giannis they turned the series around Toronto won the next four games and proceeded to the finals with Leonard averaging 30 points in the series however despite Hawaii's Brilliance the Raptors were still underdogs in the finals against the Warriors who were aiming for a three-peat but partly thanks to KD's injury probably to Kawhi coach nurse and the rest of the Raptors who fought like lions Toronto won the series in six games and took the first NBA title to Canada despite the emergence of siakum the resurrection of Fred Van Vleet instead equality from Kyle Lowry Toronto won the title because of Kawhi Leonard was the finals MVP with 28.