Where do you rank Kawhi in your all-time list?

[Homer38]

Assuming Kawhi doesn't add much for the rest of his career, where is Kawhi on your list?

[JRoy]

On the IL.

[EmpireFalls]

After the Aspiration saga, I have zero positive feelings towards Kawhi. He is a greedy cheat who is purely selfish. He barely even played either. I’ll always respect his peak performance but I can’t in good conscience put him in the top 25 or even 30 all time taking his career as a whole.

[HMFFL]

After the Aspiration saga, I have zero positive feelings towards Kawhi. He is a greedy cheat who is purely selfish. He barely even played either. I’ll always respect his peak performance but I can’t in good conscience put him in the top 25 or even 30 all time taking his career as a whole.

So, 30 people have accomplished what Kawhi has?

[Lunartic]

2× NBA champion
2× NBA Finals MVP
6× NBA All-Star
NBA All-Star Game MVP
3× All-NBA First Team
3× All-NBA Second Team
2× NBA Defensive Player of the Year
3× NBA All-Defensive First Team
4× NBA All-Defensive Second Team
NBA All-Rookie First Team

He's a top 5 SF of all time and a top-20 player of all time - peakwise he's a top-10 all time

Injuries robbed him of more accolades but he's still producing at an elite level and is one of the few players that raises their game in the playoffs.

[EmpireFalls]

After the Aspiration saga, I have zero positive feelings towards Kawhi. He is a greedy cheat who is purely selfish. He barely even played either. I’ll always respect his peak performance but I can’t in good conscience put him in the top 25 or even 30 all time taking his career as a whole.

So, 30 people have accomplished what Kawhi has?

The RealGM site when it did its top 100 rankings from 2023 had him at 34, below the following players. I cannot put him over any of them, because I hate Kawhi Leonard and everything his greedy selfish personality stands for. So #34 all time it is.

1. LeBron James
2. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
3. Michael Jordan
4. Bill Russell
5. Tim Duncan
6. Hakeem Olajuwon
7. Wilt Chamberlain
8. Shaquille O'Neal
9. Kevin Garnett
10. Magic Johnson
11. Steph Curry
12. Larry Bird
13. Kobe Bryant
14. Jerry West
15. Oscar Robertson
16. George Mikan
17. David Robinson
18. Dirk Nowitzki
19. Karl Malone
20. Chris Paul
21. Julius Erving
22. Kevin Durant
23. Moses Malone
24. Steve Nash
25. Giannis Antetokounmpo
26. Nikola Jokic
27. Dwyane Wade
28. Charles Barkley
29. James Harden
30. Patrick Ewing
31. Bob Pettit
32. Scottie Pippen
33. John Stockton

[atlantabbq99]

If he could have won 1 more chip, I would have put him up there with Dirk and Paul Peirce, but since he hasn't, its making the Toronto chip look more like a fluke.

If he won 2 more, i would have put him up their with Kobe, Bird, and Dr. J.

[Bornstellar]

In a way, he is the luckiest player of all time. Had he not been drafted to the Spurs or traded to the Raptors who had a roster perfectly suited for him, he could very likely be another Brandon Roy. His quad/knee was always a ticking time bomb and he landed in the right places to win rings. He could have very easily been a 0 time champ with a couple DPOY awards and that's it in a different universe

That said, while he is a persona non-grata to Spurs fan, it is hard to deny his resume. He is at worst a top 30 player all-time

[art_tatum]

anywhere from 25-40 i would be ok with.

Lets be real, he had 1 great run with the loaded raptors who were also lucky in that they faced an injured warriors team. they were also a bad bounce away from not making the finals. The raptors title is legit ofc, im just saying that was Kawhis only real boost to the all time list.

playoffs wise he hasnt done much in his prime otherwise on a stacked clippers team except for a conference finals appearance where they lost to the cp3 booker suns.
before that he lost to a young joker, and a lesser nuggets team. the past few years have been terrible even when healthy.

people bring up his 2 fmvps like it holds much weight over regular season mvps.
kawhi's 1st fmvp was not like his 2nd. it was a full team effort and couldve easily gone to other players, especially since the spurs crushed the heat.

sure his short prime and raptors run showed that he was a top 4 player at the time kawhi/lbj/curry/kd

but all time lists need sustained excellence,

imo he is not top 30. anything slightly below that i can agree to. top 20 isnt even debatable

he has 0 arguments over (in no specific order, better players on top half tho):

MJ
Lebron
KAJ
Wilt
Duncan

Curry
Magic
Bird
Shaq
Kobe

Hakeem
Joker
KD
Giannis
julius irving


Moses Malone
Dirk
karl malone
david robinson
nash
oscar robinson

and thats over 20 already, NOT even including old heads like west mikan russell.

theres still guys like wade harden cp3 barkley etc who all belong in the top 25. imo you can argue kawhi with these guys except maybe wade. but their longevity > lack of a ring

[The4thHorseman]

DNP

[JRoy]

2× NBA champion
2× NBA Finals MVP
6× NBA All-Star
NBA All-Star Game MVP
3× All-NBA First Team
3× All-NBA Second Team
2× NBA Defensive Player of the Year
3× NBA All-Defensive First Team
4× NBA All-Defensive Second Team
NBA All-Rookie First Team

He's a top 5 SF of all time and a top-20 player of all time - peakwise he's a top-10 all time

Injuries robbed him of more accolades but he's still producing at an elite level and is one of the few players that raises their game in the playoffs.

I would disagree.

Missed games matter.

Top 10 all time is just wild.

[Capn'O]

In a way, he is the luckiest player of all time. Had he not been drafted to the Spurs or traded to the Raptors who had a roster perfectly suited for him, he could very likely be another Brandon Roy. His quad/knee was always a ticking time bomb and he landed in the right places to win rings. He could have very easily been a 0 time champ with a couple DPOY awards and that's it in a different universe

That said, while he is a persona non-grata to Spurs fan, it is hard to deny his resume. He is at worst a top 30 player all-time

Both luckiest but also very unlucky in some ways. If Zaza's foot doesn't happen in 2017 and you guys beat the Warriors and go on to win the chip, we are clearly talking about a top 20 player ever and probably have him in the top 15. From there, his career could have taken a very different trajectory.

Then with the Clippers he got hurt in the playoffs in a year where they looked poised to go all the way. If they did that he'd be the first guy to have won FMVP with three different teams but LeBron did instead.

So he landed in some great spots and had some luck but could have also put together one of the most unfathomable runs ever to go with his LeBron stopping early in his career. I have him between 30-40.

[badpotato]

He’s not on the list.
But he’s definitely on the Top 1 undisputed part-time players list.

[Frank Dux]

He’s 34 and hasn’t even surpassed 15,000 career points.

For reference, Jrue Holiday and Bradley Beal have scored more points in the regular season games than Kawhi.

Durant and LeBron play the same position as Kawhi. Durant has twice as many career points Kawhi, and Lebron has a ridiculous 2.8 times more career points than Kawhi. I know regular season isn’t everything, but Kawhi’s regular season output leaves a lot to the desired.

[firedavidkahn]

Not nearly as high as he could be. INCREDIBLY HIGH peak that could have been an all-time great...but his peak was very short lived (in terms of being available to play) and he is always injured plus he sat out an entire year to force a trade.

To be an all-time great you need both a lot of success and bulk stats to back it all up.

[TheGOATWill]

assuming an over/under of barkley? under.

[Lunartic]

2× NBA champion
2× NBA Finals MVP
6× NBA All-Star
NBA All-Star Game MVP
3× All-NBA First Team
3× All-NBA Second Team
2× NBA Defensive Player of the Year
3× NBA All-Defensive First Team
4× NBA All-Defensive Second Team
NBA All-Rookie First Team

He's a top 5 SF of all time and a top-20 player of all time - peakwise he's a top-10 all time

Injuries robbed him of more accolades but he's still producing at an elite level and is one of the few players that raises their game in the playoffs.

I would disagree.

Missed games matter.

Top 10 all time is just wild.

Peak wise.

Name 10 players that were elite offensively and DPOY-tier defensively AND won Finals MVP twice

Being injured and having to constantly work yourself back into game shape and fight past injuries only bolsters his case. It's not a sample size issue, he played 739 games so far, he accomplished all those above accolades while being hurt and missing games.

[Baz]

25-30 for me

[Liam_Gallagher]

He's top 5.

In games missed.

[levon]

He should be listed as KL2Aspire on these lists