Jerry West possesses the golden eyes and vision to locate a special one who holds sky-high star potential. Being a wanderer in the NBA for almost the entirety of his life, his opinions about players’ skills and traits are almost purely valid and robust enough to accept.
As such, in terms of the discussion of the most underrated player in the league, he didn’t hold back from mentioning Kawhi Leonard as one of the undisputed in his recent appearance on The Rich Eisen Show.
“Being involved with the Clippers, people forget because he’s been injured so much, how great Kawhi Leonard really is,” West said. “I mean, this guy is the man on both ends of the court. You watch film playing when he was really healthy all the time, and last year he had it going again really well last year. He’s missed so many games with injuries, I think people forget about him.”
West is considerably subjective given his current front office ties with the Clippers, but his mentioning of Leonard makes sense. It’s just frustrating that injuries have completely overshadowed his greatness and case as one of the all-time great performers the game has ever seen.
When healthy, he’s been delivering when the stakes are high. His leadership and two-way masterclass to the Toronto Raptors’ 2018-19 championship is a living testament to the success he can do barring major injuries.
West further noted that the star presence and rare two-way combinations of both Leonard and Paul George solidify the Clippers’ argument for being one of the title contenders.
After another disappointing 2022-23 season ravaged by injuries, Los Angeles looks forward to being competitive and getting over the hump with both of their cornerstones healthy again.
“I look at these teams and people trying to talk about why this team should be favored,” West said. “The Clipper team, not because I work there, this team has two elite players on both ends of the court. Very few teams can say that. I’m talking about Kawhi and Paul George.”
