Kawhi Leonard didn’t need the NBA championship or even the Most Valuable Player honors to validate his place in the game, already in possession of both from his days in San Antonio. But the NBA Finals still served as a coming-out party for the mild-mannered Raptors standout.
And what it mostly put on display was his balanced skill set and his ability to focus on that task while completely obscuring the sideshow that could have surrounded his impending free agency.
Leonard can make an argument as the best two-way player in the NBA, but he managed to make his way through the daily media sessions and all of the hype of the event without providing a hint of his intentions this summer.