Kawhi Leonard by Brian J.

 

Kawhi Leonard is a great NBA player whom a lot of NBA fans admire for his versatile game style. He is a very quiet NBA player since he doesn’t have social media. He doesn’t get into drama or big controversies that has ruined a couple of NBA careers. He has a couple of controversies, but they’re not that bad. Read along to know more about him and his moments of adversity. 

To begin with, Kawhi Leonard had a difficult childhood according to fanbuzz.com. He was the son of Mark Leonard who owned a car wash in California. He grew up Compton in an area full of violence and drugs. Yet, that didn’t stop him from chasing his dreams. His dad died when Kawhi was only 16. His father died working at a car wash while he was closing it early to go watch his son’s first basketball game. The father got into an argument and got shot 10 times. After that, Kawhi started his first high school season at Marvin Luther King High School. That season he averaged 22.6 points 3.9 and 3 block according to wwwmaxpreps.com and was named Mr. California. He accomplished all this after growing up in rough circumstances and losing his father at a young age.

Then, Leonard = finished high school, and he went and played two seasons for the San Diego Aztecs and was named second consensus second all American team as a sophomore. His freshman season he averaged 12.7 points and 10 rebounds. He led the team to a 25-9 record and also won the Mountain West Conference according to Wikipedia. Leonard was also named MVP for the Mountain West Conference Title and was named freshmen of the year during his sophomore season. He improved his game and averaged 15 points and 10.4 rebounds. After that winning season, many scouts lost interest because he couldn’t lead his team to NCAA title, so people started calling him a flop. This is one of his moments of adversity since he couldn’t lead his team to a NCAA title. 

Next, after his 2 seasons in college he entered the 2011 NBA draft. Leonard was elected 15 overall and got picked by the Indianapolis Pacers and immediately got traded to the San Antonio Spurs in his rookie season. He was eventually sent to the Olympics. After successes and wins, in 2017 he tore his ACL in a game against the Warriors. Nobody thought he would come back strong to lead the Spurs again to the finals, so he got traded to Toronto while being injured for 2 years. He came back stronger than ever after all the doubt. In 2019 he led the Toronto Raptors to finals, won the finals against the warriors, won his second finals MVP, and won his second championship. After that he went to the Los Angeles Clippers and he is still there now. He overcame an injury to win big, improve in his profession, and become an asset to his teams.

Well, this is his life and his adversities. He overcame a lot of doubt failed multiple times to lead a team and he overcame a horrible injury through all the doubt. He was a very successful NBA basketball career with 2 championships, 2 finals MVPs 1 Defensive Player of the Year, and 1 NBA All-Star.