Kawhi Leonard: Top 5 Performances By The Klaw As A Spur
The 2017-18 season saw some of the most unexpected events transpire surrounding Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs. The quad injury that occurred to Leonard created all sorts of discord between him and the Spurs organization. And, eventually, to everybody's surprise, Kawhi Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors along with Danny Green in exchange for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 first round draft pick.
Kawhi Leonard was one of the biggest draft day trades in the history of the game. The San Antonio Spurs traded the then-reserve guard George Hill to the Indiana Pacers for the 15th pick in the draft which they used to get Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi since then has blossomed into one of the best two-way players in the game and his transformation into a top 5 talent revitalized the Spurs. Be it Leonard's versatility in the back-to-back Finals run in 2013 and 2014 that led to him winning the 2014 Finals MVP award, or the heroic MVP-level 2016-17 season after the departure of Tim Duncan to become the face of the franchise, Leonard has provided us with some epic performances over the years playing for the San Antonio Spurs.
Although Kawhi Leonard is now no longer a part of this great franchise, it is befitting to look at the top 5 performances from Leonard in a Spurs uniform.
#5 Kawhi scores 37 points in Game 2 of the 2016-17 Playoffs
Kawhi Leonard has had a lot of big games for the Spurs, but this was among the best of the best. With Leonard reaching his individual peak in the 2016-17 season, he showed the world what he was capable of in this first round playoff matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Leonard finished the game with a then playoff-career-high 37 points with 11 rebounds and 2 assists. He became the first Spurs player to have at least 35 points and 10 rebounds in a playoff game since Tim Duncan did it against the Phoenix Suns in 2008. Leonard also became the first Spurs player to start a postseason with consecutive 30-point games since Terry Cummings in 1992 with this performance.
Not only did Leonard shoot 64.28% from the field, he went perfect from the free throw line, making all of his 19 attempts which made him the first player with as many makes and no misses since Dirk Nowitzki’s 24-of-24 game in 2011.
There was absolutely nobody that could stop the ‘Klaw’. Four different Grizzlies tried to guard him, but Leonard was able to score on all four of them.