FELINE QUICKNESS: Kawhi Leonard Might be Finished Soon

Knee inflammation is keeping him out so far. I wish I had knew him enough to mourn for him.

Back in the 2017-2018 NBA season, some time before the opening of the new Intuit Dome, Kawhi Leonard was controversially refusing to play for the San Antonio Spurs. He said that he still did not have confidence in his right quadricep that had been re-injured by the end of the previous season; the Spurs, however, felt that claim was dubious. “According to multiple sources, Leonard’s camp has come to believe the issue has more to do with ossification, or hardening, in the area where the muscle has been repeatedly bruised, and then an atrophy, which in turn affected the tendons connecting the muscle to the knee”, ESPN Senior Writer, Ramona Shelburne, wrote. What was Kawhi feeling in his quad? To him, the quad was not ready, and the Spurs — because of the stubborn identity they possess — were fumbling his rehab. Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich, who for all of his liberal politics and warm humor, is a former U.S. Naval Officer, and one of the most demanding coaches in the entire NBA, repeatedly would tell the press “you have to ask Kawhi’s group.” This was shocking to hear, and was a crack in the veneer that the Spurs had created for themselves. The once proud and silent organization — seriously, they’re as silent as Phil Leotardo wanted the mafia to be — was engaging in a messy and public debate about load management with one of their star players. What would Tim Duncan say if he had not retired a few years prior? The Spurs were imploding, with Popovich coming under fire on leftist basketball circles for a possibly coded remark; “Kawhi’s group”, is what he kept referring to Kawhi’s management team as, and as players like Kawhi continued to become more cognizant of the power they contain, the heat was on. Team meetings were reported; Tony Parker wondered why Kawhi was not playing, when he claimed to have had the same ailment; an entire reported ESPN piece aired out family business. 

It was a few short years after Kawhi had bent the line between superstar and role player in the 2014 NBA Finals, that the Spurs had to trade him, or expect a mutiny from Kawhi. It was an event that is quite lamentable for the Spurs; suddenly, they had another franchise player who did not want to play. By now you know that they dealt Kawhi to the Toronto Raptors for DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors won the championship that season, with Kawhi as the main catalyst, a wing who had extra gear as a bruiser and a shot maker. (There’s a case to be made that this trade is underrated, at this point. Masai Ujiri, the Toronto Raptors’s General Manager, traded a beloved figure in DeRozan for a cypher in Kawhi, but he was almost bionically correct. The Raptors had a deep that team — one of the best rosters of the 21st century — but they don’t win without the bonafide superstar that they’d be chasing for their entire careers). Every time the Raptors needed a bucket, usually one that was in the fourth quarter, Kawhi delivered. He’d do something that reminded hoopers of Michael Jordan: gripping the ball with his hands — they look so big that they might be mistaken for a fossil at the Museum of Natural History — and holding it far away from defenders, allowing him leverage for blow-by attacks to the paint, or pull-up jumpers. Toronto would win its first title in franchise history, and while Kawhi seemed to enjoy his one season in Drake land, jokes were made about Kawhi’s lack of exuberance. He’s startlingly unconcerned with grandeur, so much so that it makes him feel like Don Draper.

With the news that Kawhi, now a Los Angeles Clipper, will be out indefinitely with knee inflammation, I’m trying to ascertain what my level of empathy and sadness is for his plight. It appears that he has a degenerative knee issue. It kept him out of the Olympics, as he suffered a setback while preparing with the team in Las Vegas. We’ve seen this before, athletes whose talent has been squandered through the brittle bone that populates their bodies: players like Kemba Walker, Penny Hardaway, Bill Walton, and Brandon Roy, come to mind. Walton, who was an excellent player for Portland for four years before his injuries, is probably the best comparison for Kawhi Leonard. Both men won championships in their early years, giving franchises that have never won before, and might not ever win again, an unlikely championship that feels like a Cinderella run. Kawhi is a top five player in the entire NBA when he is healthy, an imposing defender as well as a scorer. The Clippers not having him this season is a huge blow. For starters, they are opening a new arena, a dome that is made by the same people who helped make the Sphere. The Clippers, who is a team that is playing second fiddle in their city, needs a star like Kawhi for the excitement of the season to be actualized, and palpable. The iconography of the Clippers is one of losers, management dysfunction, and white supremacy. Kawhi, who had a chance to create his own legacy with the Clippers — winning a title with them would have brought him into space of being a top ten player of all-time —  might not be able to anymore. 

What is Kawhi’s legacy? It’s a compelling question. The thinking of Kawhi, one that is usually a ballpark estimate since we never know much about him, is one of exceptional talent, but minimal expression; anti-celebrity, in a time where celebrity has a chokehold in every aspect of American life. His monotone, a darkly humorous tone to some, but a speculative aspect of him to me, can be seen on X constantly, where fans are missing Kawhi’s tomahawk dunks, crisp limbs, and robotic movements. Where NBA athletes are now figureheads for black elitism, get used as political fodder, and serve as reminders of identity politics, Kawhi slightly shuns most of that, by not saying much at all. I want to be informed on how he is processing that the game he loves, the body he took care of, has betrayed him. What if he is harboring feelings about the Spurs, who didn’t believe him when he did not trust his body? I hardly ever knew him, and this is a time in his life where it feels slightly upsetting that I don’t know him. Shouldn’t he begin the process of opening up more?