LA Clippers: Thoughts on Kawhi Leonard’s position on the ESPN all-time list

Longevity and prime:

Did you know this season with the LA Clippers was only his ninth? In reality, if you look closely at all the games played and missed, then you will see that number is misleading. Out of the possible 722 games, he played 518, which is around 71 percent, and also, it comes around as 6.3 full seasons. Since coming into the league, do you know how many players played more games than him? 105. I mean even old-man Dirk Nowitzki played more games than him.

Do people not care about longevity anymore when ranking players?

I could understand this if Leonard was playing on a superstar level from his rookie season, but do people forget he was a mere role-player? He was not even starting every game in his rookie season and was a role-player for the next two seasons.

He only started to break out in 2015 when he was at the top as the best defensive wing. Then, gradually he started to improve each year by winning another DPOY and making All-NBA teams, and finally, that was when he established himself as one of the top players.

In the 2016-17 season (arguably his best), he averaged 25.5 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals on 61.0 percent true shooting while leading the Spurs to 61 wins. In my opinion, he deserved that MVP over James Harden and Russell Westbrook. Then, sadly he got injured.

When you think about it, that is not that long of a prime. That is, what, around three or four seasons. Even then, is prime and peak are not all-time greatness. Before the ring in 2019, no one said Leonard is the best player in the world.

Now you add the fact that Kawhi Leonard is 29-years-old who has injury issues, particularly with his knees. Knee problems and age, that is definitely a good mix. He never played a full season. He never is fully healthy. He always has to do load management. And this does not seem likely that it will get better.

People always mention how Larry Bird or Magic Johnson do not have longevity. Well, for Leonard to reach their longevity, he has to play around four and a half seasons playing 82 games. Obviously, that is highly unlikely, but if you say he plays around 70 games, he would still need to play five seasons to match them.