Kawhi Leonard won the NBA’s defensive player of the year award last season and it didn’t come without some controversy. When he won the 2014 NBA Finals MVP, that also came with a little controversy. It appears that every time that Leonard gets some sort of accolade, he gets criticized for one reason or another.
In the San Antonio Spurs season opener on the road against the Oklahoma City Thunder, ‘The Claw’ had to matchup as the primary defender against former MVP, Kevin Durant.
Kawhi shined in the season opener when he put up 32 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, swiped 3 steals and had 2 blocked shots. He attacked the rim, got to the free throw line a few times on the night and he shot 13-22 from the field. On the defensive end, he held Kevin Durant to 22 points on 6-19 shooting including shooting 2-6 from three-point line.
Following his big performance, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich had some big praise for Leonard.
Following from Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News.
Popovich on Kawhi: "He's arrived" #Spurs
— Jabari Young (@JabariJYoung) October 29, 2015
Whether or not Leonard has arrived will remain to be seen by the general public but there is not secret that the future of the San Antonio Spurs, going beyond Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, is centered around Kawhi Leonard as well as LaMarcus Aldridge.
Hopefully for Coach Pop and Kawhi Leonard he will arrive this season and hopefully Kawhi will reach his expected goal of making his first NBA All-Star team.
Leonard talked about Coach Pop saying ‘he arrived’ after the game, courtesy of the Sneaker Reporter, Travis Singleton.
