Kawhi Leonard ruins dynasties

Before the NBA playoffs began, I listed Kawhi Leonard as the most interesting player among those on the 16 rosters participating. Leonard held up his end of the bargain. He anchored a throttling of the Magic in the first round (after a brief but classic Toronto hiccup in Game 1). He destroyed the Sixers in the physical, metaphysical, and psychic realms. He flipped a switch to lock up presumptive MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and beat the Bucks four straight times. And now he’s toppled the dynastic, dynamic Golden State Warriors.

What strikes me as most interesting about Leonard’s story is it really lacks a story. There’s no narrative here now that he’s spurned the Spurs and remains uncommitted to the Raptors. Leonard is adrift in a sea of his own excellence, floating in and out of championship-level basketball without apparent destiny or purpose at play.

We thought Leonard was wrapped in a narrative back when he won the 2014 Finals MVP: he would be the second coming of Tim Duncan. A hard-working, lead-by-example, elite defender who can drop 30 efficiently too — someone who’d take every snap from Gregg Popovich without cracking, someone reliable and egoless. That didn’t exactly pan out. Leonard’s body proved unreliable in the end, and his ego (or his uncle, depending on who you read) proved paramount, as he basically sat out last season and asked for a trade.

So much for being the next Duncan.

The Spurs never get emotional and shipped Leonard to the Raptors. The deal frayed Toronto’s feelings, or at least Kyle Lowry’s. Leonard healed the wound. The Raptors are as good as ever, which is saying something given where Toronto has been the last couple of years. Yet Leonard hasn’t so much has hinted he’ll stick around, no matter how perfect the supporting cast or how committed Toronto is to providing whatever he needs, whether rest or power or anything.

But now the bud of blossoming narrative is poking through Ontario’s frost. It’s that Leonard is a disruptor of this NBA generation’s dynasties.

Excised from the narrative of the Spurs’ next perfect-for-Pop quiet giant, Leonard’s role in beating the Heat in 2014 takes on this tone. It wasn’t so much a continuation of San Antonio preeminence, but a monkey wrench named Kawhi thrown into Miami’s gears on the eve of three-peat.

After that title, the Heat broke up and the Warriors rose to replace them. By 2017, with Duncan retired and Leonard on his second contract, the Spurs were poised to invite themselves to the standing tea party the Warriors and LeBron James’ Cavaliers had organized. San Antonio had won 67 games and led Golden State by 20 in the first game of their highly anticipated West finals match-up. Then, Leonard landed on Zaza Pachulia’s foot and only played nine total games for the Spurs until he was traded. We don’t know whether Leonard could have truly disrupted the Warriors’ dynasty then, or whether that Game 1 was a fluke. But it didn’t feel like a fluke at the time.

Now we’re here. Kawhi is a two-time Finals MVP, the Toronto Raptors are champions, and he has proved what once thought plausible: he slayed the Warriors. He destroyed another dynasty, just like he did to the Heat in ‘14.

If you’re searching for a rhyme to put with Leonard’s reason — if you need a story to tell yourself about what motivates Leonard as he plays with the most intense cool we have in this league — this might be it. Just as he’s turned so many opponents’ possessions on their heads by sticking his hand in the play, he could be wrecking another franchise’s storied run by leaping in.

And heck, maybe he’ll do that and still leave for Los Angeles (wearing Clippers black), or Los Angeles (wearing Lakers gold), or wherever this summer. Such a chaotic sports league needs chaotic actors. Why shouldn’t one of them also be one of the best players?

It fits his style. Now it fits his narrative, too.