It is that time of year again for Leonard.
The Los Angeles Clippers' season ended Wednesday night in a 126-121 loss to the Golden State Warriors in the play-in tournament, and Stephen A. Smith wasted no time delivering his verdict on Kawhi Leonard.
"He is not the person that you would want as the leader of your franchise," Smith said on First Take the following morning.
It was a sharp take, and it will get attention.
But looking at the full picture of what Leonard did this season, the argument falls apart quickly.
Leonard played 65 games this year and put together arguably the best individual season of his career.
A Career Year at 34
Leonard averaged 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game while shooting 50.5 percent from the field.
That 27.9 average is a career high, making him the first player in NBA history to set his scoring best in year 14 or later.
He earned his seventh All-Star selection and was the engine behind a Los Angeles Clippers turnaround that saw them climb from a brutal 6-21 start to a 42-40 finish as the ninth seed in the Western Conference.
The team went 16-3 over one stretch from late December into January, and Leonard was the reason.
The play-in loss was tough to watch.
Leonard finished with 21 points on 8-of-17 shooting, seven rebounds and three assists, but he managed just two points in the fourth quarter as Draymond Green clamped down defensively and Stephen Curry erupted for 27 second-half points to flip the game.
Leonard did not deliver when it mattered most.
But taking one bad quarter and using it to define an entire season feels lazy.
Smith's criticism leans on the Clippers' lack of team success over the past five years, and some of that frustration is fair.
Los Angeles has not gotten past the first round since 2021 and has now missed the playoffs for the second time in Leonard's tenure.
The expectations that came with pairing him and Paul George back in 2019 have never been met.
The All-NBA Case Nobody Wants to Talk About
Smith and others seem to be ignoring that Leonard's season was one of the best by any forward in the league, and he has a real case for All-NBA First Team even with a crowded field.
Names like Jaylen Brown and Cade Cunningham all had great years, but Leonard's scoring, efficiency and two-way impact stack up against all of them.
The Clippers dealt with injuries to Bradley Beal early in the year, traded James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the deadline, and shuffled pieces around Leonard all season.
Despite that chaos, he put together maybe the most complete year of his career at 34 years old. That is not a failure of leadership.
Smith is right that the Clippers need more to show for Leonard's time in Los Angeles.
But blaming the guy who averaged nearly 28 points on 50 percent shooting while dragging a roster in constant flux to a play-in spot misses the point entirely.