Kawhi Leonard

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Basketball player
Kawhi Leonard
1 kawhi leonard 2019 (cropped) .jpg
Player information
Full name Kawhi Anthony Leonard
Nickname The Claw
birthday 29th June 1991 (age 29)
place of birth Riverside , California , United States
size 201 cm
Weight 102 kg
position Small forward
college San Diego State
NBA draft 2011 , 15th pick , Indiana Pacers
Club information
society Los Angeles Clippers
league NBA
Jersey number 2
Clubs as active
2011-2018 United StatesUnited States San Antonio Spurs
2018-2019 CanadaCanada Toronto Raptors
2019– United StatesUnited States Los Angeles Clippers

Kawhi Anthony Leonard ( pronunciation : [ kəˈwaɪ ]; born June 29, 1991 in Riverside , California ) is an American basketball player who has been under contract with the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA since 2019 .

Leonard was selected by the San Antonio Spurs in the 2011 NBA draft and during his time there was a multiple NBA All-Star , Defensive Player of the Year , Finals MVP and 2014 NBA Champion .

In the summer of 2018 Leonard was transferred to the Toronto Raptors , where he played for one season. With the team from Canada, Leonard again won the NBA championship in the 2018/19 season , the first in the history of the franchise. After the season ran out, Leonard decided to join the Los Angeles Clippers.

Leonard is mostly used in the small-forward position with a height of 2.03 meters . In addition to his excellent defense, he is also a strong scorer and is now counted among the best players in the world.

High school and college days

Leonard played basketball at Martin Luther King High School in his native Riverside , California , while he was in school . On January 18, 2008, Leonard's father was shot dead in the car wash he operated in Compton . Leonard still decided to play in a match for his high school the next day. After the encounter, he experienced an emotional breakdown in the sports hall at the venue. In October 2008, he announced his decision to accept an offer from San Diego State University . In 2009 he was also elected "California Mr. Basketball" after he had an average of 22.6 points, 13.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 3 blocks per game in the 2008/09 season.

After high school, Leonard chose San Diego State University (SDSU), for which he played from the 2009/10 season. In his freshman season, he averaged 12.7 points per game and got 9.9 rebounds. With the Aztecs he was eliminated from the NCAA Division I Basketball Championship tournament in the first round against the University of Tennessee . In his sophomore season, Leonard's statistics increased to an average of 15.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game and he and his team reached the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament. There they were eliminated from the eventual master, the University of Connecticut . At the beginning of 2020, the SDSU announced that Leonard's jersey number 15 will no longer be awarded. No player at the SDSU had ever received this honor.

NBA

2011/12 season

In the 2011 NBA draft , Leonard was selected in 15th place by the Indiana Pacers , but swapped to the San Antonio Spurs shortly afterwards . In return, George Hill moved to Indiana. After Manu Ginobili was out with a broken hand at the beginning of the season, Leonard's place in the starting line-up was transferred. Leonard finished his rookie season with an average of 8.9 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game. In the election for the NBA Rookie of the Year Award , Kawhi finished fourth behind Kenneth Faried , Ricky Rubio and the winner Kyrie Irving .

2012/13 season

On November 3, 2012 he succeeded against Utah Jazz with five baskets in five throws from the field, a three-point throw in one attempt and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, a "perfect game" without a miss. He was after Danny Green , who failed on April 23, 2012 without a failure (6-of-6 from the field, 2 of 2 free throws), the second Spurs player to succeed. In 2013 he reached the NBA finals series with the Texans, but lost to the Miami Heat .

2013/14 season

In the final series of the 2013/14 season he met with his San Antonio Spurs again on Miami, which was defeated this time with 4-1 wins. Leonard made a major contribution to the fifth NBA championship of the Spurs and was named MVP of the final series after the game . He became the third youngest player to ever receive this award (only Tim Duncan and Magic Johnson had won this award when they were younger).

2014/15 season

On April 23, 2015, it was announced that Leonard was named best defender of the 2014-15 NBA season. He led the league's statistics with 2.3 steals per game, making him only the third player in NBA history after Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon to become both best player in a final series and defender of the year in the course of his career was awarded.

2015/16 season

In July 2015 Leonard extended his expiring contract with the Spurs by five years, the working paper secured him a total salary of 90 million US dollars. In 2016 he was appointed for the first time in his career in the NBA All-Star Game as a starter for the Western Conference. Leonard played an outstanding season for the Spurs and achieved career highs in almost all categories. He was also named Defender of the Year for the second year running. In the vote for the most valuable player of the 2016 season , Leonard landed in second place behind Stephen Curry .

Season 2016/17

A year later he was third in the MVP election behind Russell Westbrook and James Harden ; in the choice of Defender of the Year he was also third (behind Draymond Green and Rudy Gobert ). In addition, he was elected to the All-NBA First Team and the NBA All-Defensive-First Team. In the playoffs, his Spurs were nevertheless subject to the Golden State Warriors in the conference finals series .

Season 2017/18

In the following game year Leonard completed only nine season games due to a shoulder injury and a subsequent long recovery phase. During this time there were disagreements between Leonard and the Texan team, which ended with Leonard expressing his will to change clubs.

Season 2018/19

On July 18, 2018, he and Danny Green were transferred to the Toronto Raptors in exchange for DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Pöltl . With the Raptors, Leonard moved into the NBA final series for the first time in team history in the 2018/19 game year, where they defeated the reigning champions Golden State Warriors with 4-2 wins. Leonard was named the most valuable player (MVP) of the final series for the second time after 2014. He became the first player to win both the NBA championship title and the award of the best player in the final series in both the Western and Eastern Conference. Leonard achieved averages of 26.6 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Canadians in the championship season, and statistically, he prepared 3.3 basket successes for his companions per match.

Season 2019/20

On July 6, 2019, Leonard decided to sign a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers and return to his home state. For this team he played his 500th NBA game on January 18, 2020. The Clippers won 133-130 against the New Orleans Pelicans . Leonard contributed 39 points to the victory.
Although Leonard has been considered one of the best players in the NBA for years, it wasn't until January 24, 2020 when he beat the Miami Heat that he managed his first triple double (33 points, 10 rebounds, 10 assists). At the all-star game of the season, which took place in Chicago on February 16, 2020 , Leonard was part of the starting line-up of the winning team around LeBron James . With 30 points, he was able to score the most points in the game and was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the All-Star Game. He became the first title holder of the NBA All-Star Game Kobe Bryant Most Valuable Player Award, renamed in honor of the late Kobe Bryant .

successes

NBA statistics

Legend
  GP Matches played (Games Played)   GS Games from the beginning (Games started)  MPG Graduated minutes per game (Minutes per game)
 FG% Throw rate from the field (field goal percentage)  3P% Throwing quota three-point throws (3-point field-goal percentage)  FT% Free throw rate (free-throw percentage)
 RPG Rebounds per game (rebounds per game)  APG Assists per game (assists per game)  SPG Steals per game (steals per game)
 BPG Blocks per game (blocks per game)  PPG Points per game (points per game)  FAT Career record

Regular season

season team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011-12 San Antonio 64 39 24.0 .493 .376 .773 5.1 1.1 1.3 0.4 7.9
2012–13 San Antonio 58 57 31.2 .494 .374 .825 6.0 1.6 1.7 0.6 11.9
2013-14 San Antonio 66 65 29.1 .522 .379 .802 6.2 2.0 1.7 0.8 12.8
2014–15 San Antonio 64 64 31.8 .479 .349 .802 7.2 2.5 2.3 0.8 16.5
2015–16 San Antonio 72 72 33.1 .506 .443 .874 6.8 2.6 1.8 1.0 21.2
2016–17 San Antonio 74 74 33.4 .485 .381 .880 5.8 3.5 1.8 0.7 25.5
2017-18 San Antonio 9 9 23.3 .468 .314 .816 4.7 2.3 2.0 1.0 16.2
2018–19 Toronto 60 60 34.0 .496 .371 .854 7.3 3.3 1.8 0.4 26.6
total 467 440 30.8 .495 .383 .848 6.3 2.4 1.8 0.7 17.7

Playoffs

season team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2011-12 San Antonio 14th 14th 27.1 .500 .450 .813 5.9 0.6 1.2 0.4 8.6
2012–13 San Antonio 21st 21st 36.9 .545 .390 .633 9.0 1.0 1.8 0.5 13.5
2013-14 San Antonio 23 23 32.0 .510 .419 .736 6.7 1.7 1.7 0.6 14.3
2014–15 San Antonio 7th 7th 35.8 .477 .423 .771 7.4 2.6 1.1 0.6 20.3
2015–16 San Antonio 10 10 33.9 .500 .436 .824 6.3 2.8 2.6 1.4 22.5
2016–17 San Antonio 12 12 35.8 .525 .455 .931 7.8 4.6 1.7 0.5 27.7
2018–19 Toronto 23 23 39.0 .492 .386 .885 9.2 4.0 1.7 0.7 30.9
total 110 110 34.6 .507 .413 .835 7.7 2.4 1.7 0.6 19.5

Others

Kawhi Leonard does not have a current social media account. His last post on Twitter was in 2015.

Web links

Commons : Kawhi Leonard  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ranking the NBA's best players: Giannis and Kawhi at the very top. September 27, 2019, accessed April 20, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Michael Pina: The case for Kawhi Leonard as the best basketball player alive. December 25, 2019, accessed April 20, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Eric Sondheimer: Shooting death of his father drives Riverside King's Leonard. In: latimes.com. March 8, 2008, accessed July 12, 2019 .
  4. ^ How Kawhi Leonard went from high school hidden gem to free agency's crown jewel. Retrieved March 5, 2020 .
  5. ↑ California Mr. Basketball. Retrieved March 5, 2020 .
  6. ↑ Kawhi Leonard - Men's Basketball. Accessed July 6, 2019 .
  7. ↑ Kawhi Leonard's No. 15 to be retired by San Diego State. Retrieved March 5, 2020 .
  8. ↑ nba.com Spurs' Kawhi Leonard named Kia Defensive Player of the Year Award ( Memento of the original from October 2, 2018 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nba.com
  9. ↑ nba.com:An overview of the all-star starters
  10. ↑ KAWHI LEONARD WINS 2015-16 KIA NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD
  11. ↑ Warriors' Curry wins second straight Kia MVP award ( Memento of the original from May 13, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.nba.com
  12. ↑ MVP election results on NBA.com, accessed July 6, 2017.
  13. ↑ Results on NBA.com, accessed July 6, 2017.
  14. ↑ Harden, James, Westbrook, Leonard and Davis named 2016-17 All-NBA First Team. NBA.com, May 18, 2017, accessed July 6, 2017 .
  15. ↑ Warriors 'Draymond Green, Jazz's Rudy Gobert and Spurs' Kawhi Leonard lead 2016-17 NBA All-Defensive First Team. NBA.com, June 26, 2017, accessed July 6, 2017 .
  16. ^ Nba.com: Reports: Kawhi Leonard demands trade from San Antonio Spurs
  17. ^ Sources: Kawhi to Toronto, DeRozan to Spurs . In: ESPN.com . ( espn.com [accessed July 18, 2018]).
  18. ↑ From NBA com Staff: Kawhi Leonard joins elite company in winning Finals MVP. Accessed July 6, 2019 .
  19. ↑ Kawhi Leonard Wins NBA Finals MVP, First Player to Win in Both Conferences. Retrieved July 6, 2019 .
  20. ↑ a b Kawhi Leonard and Paul George reportedly joining the Los Angeles Clippers. Retrieved July 6, 2019 (American English).
  21. ↑ Kawhi Leonard calls first career triple-double 'a great honor'. Retrieved January 25, 2020 (American English).
  22. ↑ NBA All-Star Game 2020: Spectacle, Defense and Drama! Team LeBron wins crazy game - Kawhi becomes MVP. Retrieved February 20, 2020 .
  23. ^ Adam Wells: Raptors' Danny Green: Kawhi Leonard 'Mastered' Avoiding Social Media, Reporters. Retrieved August 6, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Leonard, Kawhi
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Leonard, Kawhi Anthony (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American basketball player
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1991
PLACE OF BIRTH Riverside , California , United States