LA Clippers: Where Kawhi Leonard could be at the end of his career

LA Clippers star Kawhi Leonard is one of the best players in the league but with an already impressive career, he could be one of the all-time greats.

Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers could do big things together. Leonard though when he came into the league wasn’t one of the best players.

It took several years for him to get to be the player he is today. We have seen a defensive dynamo turn into a top-five and possibly a top-three player in the league.

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Where could he be though when his career is over? If we can get the season underway again we can at least see how he finishes this year but down the line, he has the potential to be one of the best players ever.

Kawhi Leonard is already a two-time champion. He is a two-time Finals MVP and he is a defensive player of the year. He has done all this and he currently does not play every game.

For the past couple of years, Leonard has been doing what is generally called load management. This process for Kawhi has meant taking games off to be able to be fresh for playoff runs.

It has worked so far. The Toronto Raptors were able to win a championship last year while Leonard played just 60 games. He averaged 26.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game when he did hit the floor.

People say he has to play the whole year to receive the accolades due him, but you can compare his production to what LeBron James did last year. Maybe it is so not urgent for him to play all year after all.

Last year, James played only 55 games. He was injured in a game that was well in hand with the Golden State Warriors. By the time James was able to come back, the Lakers were stuck trying to come from behind to get into the playoffs and never made the leap.

Making sure Leonard is fresh has hindered his MVP chances as voters think that you have to be able to play every game to be considered for the award.

Eventually, Leonard will play every game and he may win MVP but as long as the load management is working he will not have to play every game.

What you’re getting in Leonard is a player that can play on both sides of the ball better than anybody in the league. In terms of overall defensive rating, he is 31st in NBA history.

Dwight Howard, Joakim Noah and Andre Drummond are the closest active players to him. None of those players have ever averaged 25 points or more a game in their career and none of them are wing players.

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Kawhi has done that this season and last year. He is one of the best offensive talents in the league and he is a historically great defender. The last player that was able to do what Kawhi has done was Michael Jordan.

Leonard has a chance to project closer to Jordan than LeBron James has. He has more Defensive Player of the Year awards along with being better defensively from a statistical perspective. He has the post up and face-up mid-range game along with a 3-point shot that Jordan never had and he has two championships already in his career.

Kawhi won his first championship earlier than Jordan won his championship. By year eight Jordan had two rings just like Kawhi has now.

If you look at the stats Kawhi has a chance to be better than Jordan and LeBron James when his career is over. He already has two rings while he has a lot of basketball left in his career. James only has three while his career is likely almost over.

He will not score as many points as Jordan and LeBron have and that can be a big knock on his argument but his accolades should elevate him anyway.

He is the best player on his Clippers team, though, and he has led a team to the Finals by defeating the league’s MVP in Giannis Antetokounmpo and the dynasty that was the Golden State Warriors.

If Kawhi Leonard can win two or three more rings with the Clippers (or elsewhere) and if he can win three MVPs he will be looked at as a top 10 player by the time his career is over.