A travesty is being perpetrated that has gone unnoticed. NBA fans across the world are being robbed of what is rightfully theirs.
We don’t get to see how good Kawhi Leonard would be if he weren’t on a team with so many good players. I want to know how much more above 20 points he would average if he were on a middling team. Would he become a point-forward? A jack-of-all-trades with killer defense to go with elite scoring numbers? We don’t know, and won’t for years. His prime seasons are being wasted on a championship caliber team.
The closest he comes to his true potential are nights like this, when one of the big three goes down and he steps up his game. All facets of his game were working. Except the dunking facet. But he compensated by polishing the midrange jumper facet to a blinding radiance. We can watch these highlights and happily imagine a time when Kawhi gets his own team and does this every night. Join me.