Kawhi Leonard is coming off one of the most memorable playoff runs in NBA history. Are the comparisons to Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan reasonable?
Kawhi Leonard’s destructive run through the 2019 NBA Playoffs was one of the most impressive stretches of individual basketball in NBA history. Leonard took a perennial playoff loser in the Toronto Raptors and turned them into NBA champions.
Over the last half-decade, the Raptors have been the butt of numerous jokes about how they choke in the playoffs. Some of the jokes were warranted, some weren’t. I mean, beating LeBron James in the playoffs is no easy task for any team. It’s not the Raptors’ fault they were consistently running into The King. But still, you’d think at some point they’d find a way to win.
The jokes carried over into the 2019 NBA Playoffs when the Raptors dropped Game 1 in the first round to the Orlando Magic. I mean… losing to the Magic at home in the playoffs is definitely joke-worthy. But as expected, the Raptors wouldn’t lose to the Magic again.
Now that Kawhi’s playoff run is over and the Raptors are NBA champs, many hoops fans around the world have started to compare Leonard to Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan. Are those comparisons reasonable, though?
In the 2019 NBA Playoffs, Leonard averaged 30.5 points per game on outstanding .490/.379/.884 shooting splits to go along with 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists. Putting up over 30 points per game with a 61.9 true shooting percentage is truly insane.
Jordan was (obviously) no slouch in the playoffs, either. He never had a true shooting percentage as high as Kawhi’s in 2019, but MJ averaged at least 30 points per game in the playoffs more than 12 times. Kawhi’s stats pale in comparison to Jordan’s.
I don’t think the point of the Kawhi-MJ comparisons is to argue that Kawhi is better than MJ, though. That would be ridiculous. The comparisons are more for analyzing their respective styles of play, which are actually quite similar.
Thanks to the era of basketball that Kawhi is thriving in, he’s a more lethal 3-point shooter than Jordan ever was. They don’t stack up very well from beyond the arc. Every other aspect of their games, though, are shockingly alike.
Jordan was a beast when he attacked the rim. Kawhi? Same thing. Kawhi has a unique way of getting to his spots in the mid-range and connecting on fadeaway jumpers from all angles. Jordan? Same thing. Both Kawhi and MJ are also both underrated passers and two of the best perimeter defenders of all time.
One of the most powerful things about Jordan’s career was his knack for coming up big in clutch moments. He has a number of memorable shots. Remember “The Shot” over Craig Ehlo? How about the step-back jumper over Bryon Russell? (By the way, I don’t care what anybody says. Jordan didn’t push off.)
Kawhi’s monstrous numbers were huge for his historical legacy, but to be remembered as a legend, you have to have some moments that make time stand still – moments that will be remembered forever.
Leonard gave us a moment like that in Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. You probably know which moment I’m talking about.
Hitting that fade-away jumper at the buzzer that bounced on the rim four times (four times!) to boost Toronto past Philly launched Kawhi into a prestigious level. It cemented his place in NBA lore.
So, are the Kawhi-MJ comparisons reasonable? As long as we recognize that Kawhi is nowhere close to the player that MJ was (yet), then yes, the comparisons are perfectly reasonable. LeBron James is often the guy that people compare to MJ, but Leonard’s game is actually much more like Jordans.
Where those three dudes will rank against each other in NBA history is yet to be seen. For now, let’s appreciate the greatness that Kawhi is giving us. He’s starting to look a lot like His Airness.