Stephen A. Smith Can't Stop Dissing Clippers' Kawhi Leonard Over 'Made Up' Injuries
Stephen A. Smith's new NBA target, after losing his battle against Kyrie Irving, has been Los Angeles Clippers All-Star Kawhi Leonard.
SAS needs to beef with an NBA player, so he's been digging hard into Leonard's injury history with the Clips, accusing the star forward of creating new injuries just to avoid playing. On "First Take" this week, Smith criticized Leonard, saying, "Kawhi Leonard invents ways to get hurt."
Not exactly what the Clippers would like to hear about a player on a $152.4 million fully guaranteed contract.
Smith opted for the cheap shot at Leonard, but Kawhi's availability remains a major problem for a team that spent heavily in recent seasons but never rose to the top of the Western Conference.
When the Clippers needed him most, Kawhi certainly vanished, having missed 12 of the Clippers' last 14 playoff games. Leonard played in two playoff games this recent postseason, averaging 12 points per game and watching his team get bounced in the first round from the sidelines.
Kawhi Leonard says the Clippers have to be both selfish and make sacrifices after the James Harden trade. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Since 2014, owner Steve Ballmer has pumped significant loads of resources to upgrade a team long seen as the ‘little brother' to the Lakers, and still without a franchise championship. Debuting the brand-new Intuit Dome in late August, the Clippers want to drive up anticipation and still hope Kawhi will take off as the face of the franchise.
Paying for Leonard, Paul George, and a cast of solid rotational players nearly elevated the Clippers into the next echelon but ultimately fell short — inspiring George to leave LA this offseason to join the Philadelphia 76ers. LA also took a hit by losing a veteran presence in Russell Westbrook (laugh all you want), which throws greater responsibility on Leonard to show up, perform and lead.
Leonard played just 181 of a possible 410 regular season games with PG, as relayed by CBS Sports' Brad Botkin. Last year, Kawhi averaged 23.7 points per game, his lowest average as a Clipper. This was also Kawhi's healthiest season yet as he played the most games (68 games).
The two-time NBA champion still has a long way to go to prove that the Clippers made a good decision to invest in him as their star. Perhaps Stephen A. should've led with that.
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