Against all odds, ex-Raptors star Kawhi Leonard is back in the best-in-world conversation

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This isn’t supposed to be happening.

Kawhi Leonard, while unquestionably one of the greatest playoff performers in NBA history, will soon be 34 years old and has missed 44% of Los Angeles Clippers games since leaving Canada to go home, including the entire 2021-22 season and more than half of the current one.

Yet, Leonard, the man who lifted the Toronto Raptors to the top of the NBA mountain in an unforgettable run with the franchise six years ago, earning a second NBA Finals MVP nod in the process, is not only back to an all-star level, he’s somehow in the conversation again as the best player on the planet.

Leonard’s brilliance has helped the Clippers take a 2-1 series lead over the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokic, the three-time league MVP who is widely regarded as the NBA’s best, even if Canadian Shai Gilgeous-Alexander might edge him in the MVP race this time around.

Leonard has the Nuggets and the team’s fanbase scared right now and it’s unlikely any team — even Gilgeous-Alexander’s wrecking crew in Oklahoma City, who would play the Clippers next — are excited at the prospects of trying to find a way to slow down Leonard.

The quiet superstar has averaged 27.3 points on 61% shooting (including hitting half of his three-point attempts) over the three games of the series, which resumes Saturday in Los Angeles.

He shot an absurd 15-for-19 in Game 2 and leads all players so far in effective and true shooting percentage, and some other advanced stats, while also grading out as one of the NBA’s most impressive defenders in these early post-season days, something that wasn’t out of the ordinary for the Kawhi of old, who when healthy has often been the league’s premier two-way player.

But to do this after so many injuries and all of the long playoff runs under his belt is something.

Leonard hurt his knee again last spring, missing 12-of-14 games and then appearing for just two games in last year’s playoffs before being deemed unfit to play for Team USA at the Olympics after attending camp.

He wasn’t healthy again until January. The Clippers, borrowing a playbook from the Raptors, load-managed him in the 37 regular-season contests he got into after that, dialing his minutes back significantly (just 26 a night over his first 15 games until he was gradually ramped back up).

The team won eight straight to end the campaign with Leonard back to a full workload and 15-of-17, so this start to the playoffs is no fluke.

The Clippers are far more than just Leonard. Not many other teams have a second star who is a former MVP winner (and three-time runner-up), but James Harden rides shotgun for Leonard and also has looked revitalized.

Centre Ivica Zubac was both a contender for defensive player of the year and most improved, former Raptor Norman Powell was robbed of his first all-star spot while holding the fort until Leonard returned and the lineup is loaded with gritty defenders. Plus, Ty Lue and his coaching staff — which includes Jeff Van Gundy directing a fearsome defence — is amongst the best in the NBA and the team’s fancy new arena can be intimidating to visitors.

In the end though, Leonard’s health will determine how far the Clippers go and, as the Spurs, Raptors and Clippers know, it’s wise to expect hiccups.

After all, there have been false starts before. Leonard looked like the Raptors version in his first year with the Clippers, posting nearly identical numbers and was dominant in the Bubble against Dallas and in building a 3-1 lead against Jokic and the Nuggets, only to run out of gas as Denver stormed all the way back.

The next year, Leonard again was playing as well as anyone, helping the Clippers rally from 2-0 and 3-2 deficits against Dallas and to a split through four games against Utah before injuring his knee, the start of his post-Toronto troubles.

Leonard looked awesome again in Round 1 in 2022-23 (69 points through two games), before being felled again and we’ve been over what went down last year, so maybe it’s too early to get carried away by Leonard’s play.

Or, as he said back in January upon his return: “I was able to throw some paint on the canvas tonight … we’re working to create something beautiful, so let’s keep it going.”

@WolstatSun