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legends—Magic, Kobe, Michael, Shaq, and Hakeem, among others—who have done so. Leonard won it for the first time in 2014, where he strung together a spectacular stretch of games to lead San Antonio past an All-Star laden Miami Heat roster. The Klaw: Big Hands, Big-Time Performer Ruthlessly efficient at both ends of the floor, Leonard has that knack that all the great ones possess for somehow raising their play in the biggest moments. Known as “The Klaw” (for his large hands), he uses his monster mitts to handle the ball like it’s a grapefruit. Leonard can score by slicing to the rim, posting up around the paint, or knocking down a long-range shot. A five-time All-Star, and twice the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year, he loves defending and routinely sabotages the shooting percentages of some of the game’s best marksmen with his lockdown coverage. Taken 15 th overall in the 2011 NBA draft by Indiana, which then sent him to San Antonio, general managers around the league are still miffed that they somehow passed on selecting this likely Hall of Famer. After spending seven seasons in San Antonio, Leonard requested a trade when his relationship with the team became fractured over the handling of a right quad injury that limited him to nine games during the 2017–2018 season. The biggest star on the court during the 2019 season with the Toronto Raptors, Leonard was the league’s biggest newsmaker even during the offseason, when he chose to bid farewell to a country that cherished him and return to his Southern California roots by signing with the Los Angeles Clippers. Now settled in with another franchise that has never won an NBA title, one of the true greats of the game has his sights lasered in on making more history.

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Chapter 1: Greatest Moments