Worth watching again, and we all know why: Because of who the “heart and soul” of the team is.
The season would be so different if not for this crucial member of the cast “coming in to fill a role” by performing like an All-Star and completing “a near-impossible task” in the process.
Dang, did Kawhi Leonard get snubbed … just like Chase Infiniti did.
One by the NBA, the other by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Those quotes are actually from actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who was reflecting after his “One Battle After Another” co-star was left out of the nominees for Best Actress – but, man, if they don’t also apply to Kawhi.
We’ve long recognized Kawhi as a stoic character who can do a team’s heavy lifting, but this season he’s really shown off his range. How impressive it’s been to see him transform on-screen into one of the game’s most prolific 3-point shooters every time we tune in to watch the Clippers.
His all-astronomical value was only reinforced by the fact that the whole tenor and trajectory of the Clippers’ dramatic comeback story changed when he showed back up and started kicking butt – back, back again from injury – about 20% of the way through.
And still, he was boxed out of what should have been his seventh NBA All-Star appearance (unless he gets added as a replacement for an injured star such as Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo).
Never mind that Leonard has been playing some of the best basketball of his 14-year career, scoring more than in any of his previous five seasons with the Clippers, a surge necessitated by how poorly they started the season – 6-21! But since then, with Leonard pouring in 30.2 points per game, the Clippers have been the NBA’s hottest team – 17-4!
Players with stats like his – Leonard is also averaging 6.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 2.0 blocked shots per game while shooting darn-near 50-40-90% from the field, 3-point range and foul line – don’t get left off an All-Star rosters.
That he has been, and in the year that his Clippers will be hosting the All-Star Game at the Intuit Dome without a single player in it, is curious and kooky.
It’s the stuff of conspiracy theories, an invitation to draw a line between the Aspiration salary cap circumvention allegations being investigated by the league and this striking Brush Off.
And, let’s be clear, it has nothing to do with LeBron James.
The Lakers star – who will make his NBA-record-extending 22nd All-Star appearance – is no more to blame for Leonard being left out than he is for Infiniti’s absence among the best of the best in her field.
Because in Year 23 and at age 41, LeBron remains an A-list attraction, indisputably a leading man.
He’s just over here, playing ball with the kids – including his kid – suiting up in the NBA’s fifth-most popular-selling jersey for Lakers, whom he helps make one of the league’s most consistent draws, at home and on the road.
Sure, I know, James had played in fewer games (31) than Leonard, and was averaging fewer points (21.9) and pick a category, any category, and Kawhi will probably have the statistical edge.
But this is the All-Star Game and not the All-Stats Game. These aren’t All-NBA teams meant seriously to recognize the Best Players in Their Role, entirely on merit and regardless of popularity. These are meant to be fan favorites lolly-gagging for two to three 12-minute games in the reformatted U.S. vs. the World three-team tournament instead of one of the guys lounging, off the clock, in some tropical paradise.
It’s a showcase ideal for LeBron and Steph Curry, proven showman who play to nostalgia and the box office.
And if not for the ignominy of a team-wide snub – James Harden’s invitation also got lost – the Clippers should want their injury-prone star as far away from meaningless contact as they can get him.
They should want their hero bubble-wrapped and excused from work for a week. They should be happy to have him come back refreshed and maybe even quietly ticked off for the ups and downs of the playoff chase ahead.
But still, a snub is a snub.
It’s human, coaches can err when they vote on reserves. And it’s human to feel a type of way about it; even if they upped the number of picks to 15 per conference to match the size of an NBA roster, we’d argue about why the 16th player should’ve been the 15th.
And yet, a snub is a snub. Ask Leo. Ask T-Lue.
“It was tough,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue told reporters in Phoenix on Sunday evening after the All-Star reserves were announced and his team took it out on the Suns, 117-93, with Leonard scoring a team-high 25 points. “Kawhi, to me, the last six weeks has been the best player in the NBA … it was just tough to see.”
It’s also human to wonder. Not about LeBron, because if you didn’t know, now you do: The man from Akron is going to have an open All-Star invitation as long as he’s hooping professionally.
But Deni Avdija? The forward who is averaging 25.5 points for a Portland Trail Blazers team that is a couple of games behind the Clippers in the Western Conference standings?
Chet Holmgren? One of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s supporting actors (averaging 17.7 points) behind reigning league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?
Devin Booker? A 25-points-per-game guy for the middle-of-the-pack Suns?
Those guys are great, but they’re not among the greatest of all time; they’re not LeBron and Steph. And they’ve not been on Leonard’s level, either.
Leonard, who hasn’t been proven guilty of anything but cooking the league lately. Who has overcome so many injuries but remains committed to playing his part as the Clippers close in on the near-impossible task of returning to relevance this season.
Leonard, the star of the Clippers’ comeback story, and also of the backstory being investigated behind the scenes. It’s that – not LeBron taking LeBron’s rightful spot – that might have been too dramatic for the voting coaches.
Well, that or bad taste.