Ex-NBA forward Richard Jefferson shared some of his thoughts on the main differences between his former Cavaliers teammate LeBron James and Clippers star Kawhi Leonard:
“Kawhi is not wired to overthink any situation. He’s very RoboCop, robotic. These are compliments. I’ve seen him with a block for a game-winner, hit a game-winning jump shot, and he walks off. There’s no yelling. No excitement. That’s just his personality. His heart rate never goes up or down. He has shown emotion, but emotion is not a part of his game.
Emotion is very much a part of LeBron’s game. He has apologized in film sessions for his body language before. He’s an emotional person.
LeBron is going to be talking everything out, mentally trying to beat you, getting 10, 12 assists and making everybody else better. Kawhi puts his head down and says, ‘My job is to defend, to defend all things, and then go score.’ He does those two things as well as anyone has done them in the game of basketball, where LeBron tries to do five things very, very well,” Jefferson told Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report.
This season, James is averaging 25.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 10.6 assists per game, while shooting at 49.6% from the floor.
Kawhi, meanwhile, is averaging 25.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 1.8 steals, and 5.1 assists per game, while shooting at 46.1% from the field.
The Lakers have the second-best record in the NBA at 24-6, meanwhile, the Clippers are fourth in the Western Conference with a 22-10 record.
