Richard Jefferson SLAMS Stephen A. Smith, wants him to KNOW HIS PLACE for demanding Kawhi Leonard’s retirement
Kawhi Leonard has suffered a torn meniscus.
Follow Us
Stephan A. Smith (L), Kawhi Leonard (M), and Richard Jefferson (R)
Kawhi Leonard has been one of the injury-plagued superstars in the league with sky-high potential. His contributions to the teams he has played for are unparalleled. In the 2018-2019 NBA season, he even led the Toronto Raptors to an NBA championship title beating the mighty Golden State Warriors in six games. However, his struggles with various injuries over the years have evidently impacted his career. Leonard recently dropped out of the first-round series between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Phoenix Suns. This was due to a torn meniscus, initially suspected as a sprained knee.
Leonard was in good touch before he missed Games 3, 4, and 5 due to his untimely physical complication. He scored a combined 69 points in Games 1 and 2, leading the Clippers to win the former. However, after his exit, quite a few fans and critics have been unhappy with his fitness condition. One of them, Stephen A. Smith, has been quite vocal about it. Speaking on ESPN’s FirstTake, Smith said that the Clippers can no longer rely on Leonard and that he should be forced to retire.
Following Smith’s comments, many fans and fellow critics have come out against the analyst’s remarks. One of them, quite recently, is former NBA player turned analyst Richard Jefferson. Jefferson spoke on NBA Today in response to Smith’s remark, disagreeing with his views about how LA should handle the star guard. “The man has a torn meniscus and there’s nothing you can do… I don’t think it’s anybody’s place in the media to ever tell a player that they should retire,” he said.
“It is nobody’s place to tell a player when to retire. That is not our job. That is not our place,” he said further. “When I look at guys like Derrick Rose who went through horrific injury after injury and all he did was keep battling back… Isaiah Thomas; battling back,” he said, talking about other players who struggled with the same problem.
“We can’t sit up here in this position and ever tell a player when it’s done. In my opinion, that’s not our place,” Jefferson added further, explaining his point. “I think that that is inappropriate. I think it is kind of disrespectful,” he concluded.
A brief history of Kawhi Leonard’s injury struggles
The 2019 NBA Finals MVP has had quite a few injuries prior to his torn meniscus in the first round of this year’s playoffs. His first major injury occurred way back during his San Antonio Spurs days. Playing the first-round series against the Houston Rockets in 2017, Kawhi Leonard hurt his ankle in Game 5 and walked off. Although he didn’t return for Game 6, the Spurs managed to win the series. He returned for the Conference Semi-Finals against the Warriors. He landed poorly on the weak ankle and re-aggravated his injury leading him to sit out for the rest of the series.
In the following NBA regular season of 2017-18, the guard was hit with a quadriceps injury. Diagnosed with a right quadricep tendinopathy, Leonard missed out on the first 27 games for the San Antonio Spurs. He recovered from his injury to return in December; however, he had to go back into rehab due to the same issue. Leonard never took the floor for San Antonio again, as his teammates were unhappy with his decision not to play despite being cleared by the team’s medical staff.
Leonard stayed away from injury for the 2018-19 NBA season. In that time, he won the NBA championship with the Raptors. However, two years later, despite load management strategies from the Los Angeles Clippers, the guard picked up another injury—this time in the form of a partially torn ACL. Leonard had to then drop out against the Utah Jazz in the Western Conference Semi-Finals.
In case you missed:
Stay Updated!
Ritvik Malhotra
(1085 Articles Published)