Grant Hill Expands Upon Relating To Kawhi Leonard’s Injury Ridden Past Following The Latter’s Team USA Exit

The entire basketball world was searching for answers after Kawhi Leonard was ambiguously dismissed from Team USA. With the team’s official statement confusing fans and analysts, Grant Hill gave his two cents on the matter. During the same reasoning, Hill also related to Leonard’s injury struggles.

In an interview with SiriusXM NBA Radio, legendary Coach Mike Krzyzewski asked Grant Hill to shed light on the incident regarding Kawhi Leonard. Initially, the managing director of the men’s national team praised the Klaw for being one of the best players in the league with an unbelievable winning record over the past decade. Hill said,

“I’m a big fan of Kawhi Leonard, what he’s done. I believe in the last 10 years in the NBA, in the games that he’s played, he has the highest winning percentage. Obviously, a two-time champion, gets it done on both ends of the floor.”

Immediately after, Hill acknowledged the slew of injuries that the two-time Finals MVP has had to deal with in the recent past. Contrary to what many enthusiasts and analysts knew before, Hill also revealed that Team USA had “transparent” communication with Leonard’s camp and the Los Angeles Clippers before the team was assembled. Finally, the tough call had to be made after a few days of training commencing.

“I know he’s had some struggles with injuries and that has played out for us to see over the last few years… Even prior to arrival, we started communication with him and his camp in May, very transparent about our concerns. And to their credit, they were very transparent as well, along with the Los Angeles Clippers. And felt that he deserved an opportunity to come in and see if we can make it work. And ultimately a decision was made that we have to pivot and that’s not always easy,” Hill concluded.

From what Grant Hill says, there was always an asterisk next to Kawhi Leonard’s name – he would only participate depending on his health. Having sustained multiple injuries – ankles, thigh, and knee – since his final few years with the San Antonio Spurs, the two-way star’s exclusion should allow him more time to prepare for the 2024-2025 campaign.

The NBA Hall-Of-Famer also sympathized with Leonard by revealing his own constant injury battles across his career.

Grant Hill faced similar struggles as Kawhi Leonard

During his explanation, Grant Hill admitted to being sympathetic toward Kawhi Leonard because the former has had a similar career trajectory, being bothered by multiple injuries.

“Maybe I felt a kinship of sorts, you know, because I had struggled with injuries. So there’s some empathy for a guy who was a great player who’s gone through some challenges,” Hill said.

Grant Hill had an 18-year-long career in the NBA. After being named to the All-Star Teams and the All-NBA Teams through his first six seasons, the forward would hurt his left ankle during the 2000-2001 campaign, which would limit him to merely 200 games across 7 seasons.

Apart from being named All-Star once, Hill could not perform at the same level as he did after recovering from the injury. He would go on to play 456 games in his final seven seasons in the league, merely averaging 11.8 points and 4.4 rebounds in that span before retiring at the age of 40.

While the injuries always bothered him, Hill also had the added pressure of being the “next Michael Jordan”. A few years earlier, the NBA legend also spoke about the toll that such unreal expectations had on him.

“The games, playing above the rim, they gave me that [the next Jordan]. I wasn’t ready for that. I came in with good success but I wasn’t ready to be that person right away. So I was always uncomfortable with that. My game, I like to pass, I like to be a facilitator, that was part of my DNA.

I didn’t approach a game thinking how can I beat a team. It was, ‘Okay, how do we do it, how do we get people involved.’ I never really bought into that but I leveraged it and monetized it and did well off of that,” Hill said on The Old Man and the Three podcast.

Grant Hill will seriously hope that Kawhi Leonard can shake off the injury and go back to being the All-NBA and MVP contender that he once was.