Kawhi Leonard: Is the newest Toronto Raptor an NBA superstar?

The criteria for NBA superstardom seems to be based on more than just pure talent. Does the newest Toronto Raptor, Kawhi Leonard, qualify as an NBA superstar?

The elusive NBA superstar. The top banana. The big cheese. The key ingredient to almost every NBA championship. Every team needs one, but not everyone, including the Toronto Raptors, is fortunate enough to have one.

Ask any fan or expert what differentiates the NBA elite from just the stars, and you’ll likely get conflicting answers— some say longevity, others stress personality. Unfortunately, it’s a never-ending debate.

So what exactly makes someone a superstar? Gabe Bain from Uproxx offers the following interpretation:

"A superstar is someone who can have a team built around him. He should be able to take them deep into the playoffs and be that guy you can depend on in the closing minutes. In order to attain superstar status, a player should be judged for his play on the court and not his life off of it. A GM would literally break is arm before trading a superstar. And if he was traded, the other team would have to give up everything including the kitchen sink to acquire him. Superstars are the face of the franchise, and you would be lucky if your team had more than one in a decade. If a player is truly deemed a superstar, then he should keep this status for more than a couple of years, barring injury. ”"

According to this poetic definition, players like Lebron James, Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis are NBA superstars. The eye test and basketball analytics support their elite status.

However, when it comes to someone like Kawhi Leonard, the Toronto Raptors’ enigmatic offseason acquisition, things get murky. For all intents and purposes, Leonard has the necessary attributes and accolades to be considered a superstar.

Yet not everyone agrees. Let’s delve into the curious reasons why.

Lack of Marketability

The NBA is first and foremost a business. To be successful and generate revenue, it needs to promote its product and attract consumers.

Marketing is key here— the league emphasizes excitement above all else (perhaps to a detriment). Every year fans are bombarded with storylines, trade speculations, player feuds, and controversial referee calls. Excitement is embedded into the game itself— changes in the rules encourage a faster tempo and higher scores.

Why is this important? It creates a potent mixture of passion, adrenaline and devotion. It hooks the casual fan, someone who may not be fully invested in the intricacies of the sport but wants a good time.

De facto NBA superstars like Lebron James and Kevin Durant contribute to this concoction. While they’re good at basketball, they’re also insanely marketable; they create the fan interest that the NBA needs and craves.

Now consider Kawhi Leonard’s place in all this. He’s the antithesis of excitement. He’s impersonal. He barely speaks. His motivations are ill-defined. While we’ve heard snippets of Leonard’s tragic backstory, we don’t really know anything concrete about him. Combine this with the fact that he now plays for the Toronto Raptors, a Canadian team outside of mainstream U.S. market and you run into problems.

So while technically it shouldn’t, marketability plays an important role in deciding whether an NBA player like Kawhi Leonard is a superstar or not.

Who came first? The player or the system

The other asterisk beside Kawhi Leonard’s claim to NBA superstardom is the question of whether he’s a system player.

For the uninitiated, this basically means that Leonard is not entirely responsible for his success. His old team, the San Antonio Spurs, make it a regular habit of elevating average players such as Davis Bertans and disguising their flaws. Leonard was part of this highly effective program and culture, which groomed him and maximized his skills.

It’s the classic case of the chicken and the egg. Who came first? Did the San Antonio Spurs’ system create Kawhi Leonard or is he good simply because he’s good?

As you’re reading this, it should be apparent that this isn’t a legitimate argument but somehow it found traction amongst fans and experts. Obviously, without a solid roster around him, Leonard’s efficiency would drop— on a lesser team, he’d look worse. This is only common sense.

Either way, we’ll see for sure this coming season when Leonard suits up for the Toronto Raptors. As an NBA superstar, he should fit in seamlessly. Theoretically, there should be no drop off in performance (assuming he’s completely healthy). Even if many Canadians don’t realize it yet, Leonard is an astronomical upgrade over DeMar DeRozan, no matter what system you’re running. But that’s a topic in itself.

It’s the classic case of the chicken and the egg. Who came first? Did the San Antonio Spurs’ system create Kawhi Leonard or is he good simply because he’s good?

Verdict: Inconclusive

Objectively speaking, Kawhi Leonard is an NBA superstar. However, as Friedrich Nietzsche once famously said, “there are no facts, only interpretations.”

As a public figure, Leonard is judged by subjective standards, such as the size of his ego and his perceived entertainment value. He isn’t just an athlete but a performer who is expected to represent an entire brand, on one of the biggest stages for millions of fans. This suits some people more than others.

Leonard isn’t suited for this role. He’s a great basketball player and according to his teammates, he also has a great sense of humour. It’s just that the public rarely gets to see it. He’s a silent superstar.

What are your thoughts? Is Kawhi Leonard an NBA superstar? Or do we need to invent a new term to describe him?