Is Kawhi Leonard really worth the trouble and money he costs his teams ever since making his debut in 2011?
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After losing their first game of the season against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday, coach Ty Lue had his main men on the bench, as the LA team visited the 0-3 Oklahoma City.
Both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard had a day off on Tuesday as their team with the starting line-up of Reggie Jackson, Norman Powell, Terance Mann, Nicolas Batum, and Ivica Zubac, too on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Co.
The game wasn’t much of a contest, and OKC won it 108-94. However, it raises a question on the Clippers, whether they really want to win it all or if is it going to be another season like the last three, where Kawhi load manages the whole year and they get out of contention in the first or second round.
Leonard has played 111 regular season games since signing with the @LAClippers in 2019.
That’s 48% of the games.
— Ernesto Cova (@ejcovap) October 26, 2022
Kawhi Leonard is NBA’s costliest player ever
As Leonard missed the 242nd regular season game of his career Tuesday night, which would be 3 entire seasons of an NBA calendar, NBA Twitter put the Clippers star to question.
Superstar Kawhi Leonard has missed 242 regular season games since 2014.
That’s three full seasons.
His career average sits below 20 PPG because he’s averaged 20+ for just 5 seasons in his career, none of which he played a full campaign.#Clippers
— Ernesto Cova (@ejcovap) October 26, 2022
Obviously, we might never have those answers on anything about Leonard’s intentions for that matter, but this man can tell you how Leonard is the costliest player in the NBA, and how the Clippers have been robbed in broad daylight.
Kawhi has made $32.7M, $34.9M, $39.3M in three seasons as a Clipper.
That’s nearly one million per game played, or $29K per minute played (3.663 mins).
That’s also $37.3K per point scored (2.860).
What a HEIST.
— Ernesto Cova (@ejcovap) October 26, 2022
The @LAClippers have won 78 regular season games with Kawhi Leonard on the court.
That’s $1.37M per win.
Oh, and they have zero (0) rings to show for it.
Why is nobody talking about this??? #LAClippers
— Ernesto Cova (@ejcovap) October 26, 2022
Yikes! No win in pro sports is as costly as that.
Kawhi Leonard is a luxury that everyone in the league would afford gladly
A million dollars to play 40-44 minutes of basketball only when he wants to? Why would Kawhi have this otherwise? Maybe he wins the Clippers a championship, perhaps he won’t, but nobody could or will try to take it anything away from “The Klaw”.
Even if he continues to play this way throughout the end of his contract, teams will still have him on top of their priority list when his contract expires in 2025 or a year before that when he has a player option in 2024.
The former Spurs man will be at least 33 years of age when that time arrives, and if the Clippers are without a championship by then, there wouldn’t be a bigger failure for a player who is arguably the best in the league when fit.
