Quite simply put, yes, he is.
Its difficult to remember that he’s still only 24 years old, in his 5th professional year since being selected at #15 in the 2011 draft. It does help that he was drafted to the best sports franchise, possibly of all time, in the San Antonio Spurs.
The 2011 draft was stacked, its probably a little underrated in fact. 8 players drafted before Leonard have secured max-level contracts with NBA teams, and 2 of them have been named to All-Star and All-NBA teams (Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson). But even with the incredible talent pool, Kawhi was one of the biggest steals in NBA history outside of the lottery.
Kawhi Leonard already has a resume most players could only dream of, and is all but guaranteed to add “NBA All-Star” to that this season.
- 2012 NBA All-Rookie 1st Team
- 2014 NBA All-Defensive 2nd Team
- 2014 NBA Champion
- 2014 NBA Finals MVP
- 2015 NBA All-Defensive 1st Team
- 2015 Defensive Player of the Year
Kawhi has improved on every facet of his game religiously since coming into the league. His per game averages have improved from 7.9 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in his rookie season, to 20.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists this year, which sounds like the most impressive part, until you look at his efficiency numbers.
50-40-90. 50% from the field, 40% from beyond the arc and 90% from the free throw line. The statistical average every elite scorer in the game dreams of achieving, which only a handful of players have actually managed. At this point in the season (roughly half way through) Leonard is averaging 50-48-87. He’s playing around 33 minutes per game and is currently ranked 5th in PER with 25.73 and has the lowest usage rate of any player in the top 10 (22.9)
The scary part of all this? The offensive end isn’t even his biggest strength.
Leonard is one of, if not the best defensive player of the last 10 years. He currently leads the league in defensive win shares (3.5) and 2nd in total win shares (8.1) which is impressive enough before you take into consideration the Spurs 36-6 record. Kawhi only averages 2 steals and 1 block per game which doesn’t jump off the page and this probably hurts his chances of starting the All-Star game as casual fans can’t see the effort and lockdown defence that wont show up on the box score.
“I would take him over any basketball player in the world right now – Charles Barkley”
Other players like Draymond Green, DeAndre Jordan and Anthony Davis will naturally all receive votes but Kawhi has turned the Defensive Player of the Year award into a one horse race.
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