Dwyane Wade and Kawhi Leonard have both had injury-affected careers. However, Reggie Miller believes one of them will be remembered more fondly.
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The Los Angeles Clippers are on the brink of yet another playoff heartbreak in the Kawhi-PG era. Through 4 seasons as a duo, this pair has only had 1 healthy playoff campaign together.
Leonard injured his ACL in the 2021 playoffs, leading him to miss the entirety of the next season. Paul George, meanwhile, seems set to miss this year’s playoffs with his own knee injury.
Clearly, there’s some kind of bad juju going on with the Clippers. This is a franchise with probably the best owner in the league and an emerging fanbase. It’s screaming out for some kind of playoff joy but hasn’t been close to it at any point.
Reggie Miller would take Dwyane Wade over Kawhi Leonard in a playoff game 7
Reggie Miller was a guest with Dan Patrick on his morning sports radio show on Peacock. The former 3-pointer record holder seemed to be disappointed with Kawhi because of his load management:
“At times, no one is 100% this time of the year. You’ve got to be able to play through it (injuries). You’ve got to be mentally strong to play through it all.”
Patrick then delivered a googly to Miller, asking him whether history would be kinder to Kawhi Leonard or Dwyane Wade. Miller came out unabashedly in Wade’s support:
“Definitely Dwyane Wade. Dwyane Wade played through injuries. They made a commercial about that: ‘Fall down 6 times, get up 7’. They made commercials about that.”
When asked who the better player is out of the two, Reggie had the same answer:
“Well, Dwyane has more championships, right? 3 to 2? Give me Flash.”
Reggie also picked D-Wade over Dirk Nowitzki on his preferred Game 7 team.
Does D-Wade have a better legacy than Kawhi?
Dwyane Wade had perhaps the best NBA Finals performance by any player this century. The then-24-year-old put the Heat on his back to win them 4 straight games in the Finals, driving time and time again against the Dallas interior defense.
Kawhi Leonard, on the other hand, has one of the most storybook playoff runs of all time. The way he grabbed the Raptors by the scruff of their neck and took them past the line in the 2019 playoffs is definitely worth consideration.
All-in-all, Leonard seems to be a bit better on the defensive side, while Wade is a more explosive offensive player. You can’t go wrong with either on your team, but stylistically, coaches like Phil Jackson would prefer Dwyane, while coaches from Pat Riley’s school would go with Kawhi.
