Kawhi Leonard Career High: Remembering ‘The Claw’s’ 45-Point Performance Against Utah Jazz

Kawhi Leonard is one of the best players in the league and among the greatest two-way players in NBA history. Across his illustrious 12-year career, Leonard has racked up a decorated resume – six All-Stars, five All-NBA Teams, seven All-Defensive Teams, two DPOYs, two championships, and two Finals MVPs. Despite being one of the most accomplished players in the modern era, Kawhi is not known for being a high-volume scorer. Thus, it isn’t surprising that Leonard’s career-high performance, scoring-wise, is only 45 points.

On 1^st January 2019, during the Toronto Raptors’ contest against the Utah Jazz, Kawhi Leonard was simply unstoppable. Erupting for a 45-point outing, the Jazz defense simply had no solution to prevent the Claw from getting buckets. Apart from shooting at a highly efficient 72.7% from the field, Leonard also grabbed 6 rebounds.

Thanks to the 6ft 7” forward’s historic night, the Raptors secured a 122-116 victory.

Kawhi Leonard has had 8 40-point games in his career

Apart from recording a career-high of 45 points on January 1^st, 2019, Kawhi Leonard has had seven other instances when he’s recorded 40 or more points in a single game, as per StatMuse.

A few weeks after recording the 45-point outing, Leonard erupted for his second and last 40-point performance while donning the Toronto Raptors jersey, scoring 41 points against the Wizards.

Before his stint with the Canadian side, the “Fun Guy” only had 1 40-point game during the seven seasons that he spent with the San Antonio Spurs. During the Spurs-Cavaliers 27^th January 2017 clash, Leonard went on a scoring rampage, recording 41 points in a thriller overtime 118-115 win.

While representing the Los Angeles Clippers, Kawhi has recorded five 40-point games. Two of them – 44 points vs the Kings & 40 points vs the Pelicans – occurred during the 2022-2023 season. While he also had two such games – 43 points vs the Cavaliers & 42 points vs the Wolves – in the 2019-2020 season, the 32-year-old recorded a 41-point outing this 2023-2024 season.

This campaign, despite the addition of James Harden and Russell Westbrook, Kawhi Leonard has managed to maintain a similar offensive production as compared to the previous year. While leading the LA side to one of the best records in the West, the “Board Man” has been averaging 24 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game, according to Basketball Reference.