San Antonio Spurs: 2015-16 Season Outlook
Three Key Storylines (cont.)
3. Is This The Year Kawhi Leonard Becomes A Superstar?
Even with Aldridge onboard, 24-year-old Kawhi Leonard is still the face of the franchise for the San Antonio Spurs. He’s rapidly becoming a two-way menace as one of the only players capable of making life more challenging for LeBron James on one end of the floor and a freakishly athletic, three-point shooting monster on the other end.
But even with a Defensive Player of the Year Award and an NBA Finals MVP Award to his name, Leonard has not yet emerged as a bonafide superstar in this league. Kawhi not? Well, because he hasn’t quite put together a fully dominant season yet.
In 2013-14, the year Leonard would go on to win Finals MVP at the age of 23, he only averaged 12.8 points and 6.2 rebounds per game for the regular season. His playoff numbers (14.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game) weren’t THAT much better, but once he exploded for the final three games of the Finals, he won the MVP Award for the series…over very little competition.
Kawhi Leonard's numbers in March and April should help answer questions about his potential on offense: pic.twitter.com/AtlcuPGXZF
— Adi Joseph (@AdiJoseph) July 4, 2015
Last season, in what might have been Leonard’s breakout year, he averaged 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, but his three-point shooting slipped to 34.9 percent and injuries held him out of 18 games. Still, he captured DPOY, led the league in steals and developed into the closest thing to a terror on the wing that the league has seen since Scottie Pippen.
Given his athleticism, offensive potential and youth, it’s a no-brainer that re-signing him to a long-term deal was priority No. 1 for the Spurs this summer. With a five-year, $90 million extension, San Antonio got the job done and locked in the only player in NBA history other than Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon to win a DPOY and an NBA Finals MVP Award.
In 2015-16, it’s time for Leonard to finally put all the pieces together and play with the same kind of two-way energy that he showed in the playoffs last year, when he averaged 20.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game to emerge as the Spurs’ best player.
Next: Best, Worst Case Scenarios