In the NBA, it is common for superstar players to receive criticism for either a lack of performance in certain games, off-the-court headlines, or a lack of availability for their teams year after year. As a result, it has become a topic around the NBA that players such as Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving have been primarily unavailable for their respective teams.

These two superstar-caliber players have rightfully received criticism from fans, media analysts, and even within their own organizations. However, as we have seen before, only some superstars get this treatment, and Kawhi Leonard is one of these players.

Since the 2019-20 season, when he joined the Los Angeles Clippers, Leonard has played a total of 111 games. In context, Leonard did miss the entire season last season with an ACL injury. However, he also chose to sit out many games due to load management when he was fully healthy and good to play.

In comparison, Irving, who joined the Brooklyn Nets in the same season as Kawhi joined the Clippers, has played the same amount of games in the last four seasons despite all the drama and injuries centered around him. Davis, who has been criticized heavily for his lack of durability in the last four seasons since he joined LA, has played a total of 147 games.

Despite Leonard playing the same amount of games as Irving and less than Davis, he has not received as much criticism compared to them. Load management has been a significant problem with Leonard since 2018, when he missed almost the entire season even when doctors cleared him to play.

Leonard has been given pass after pass when it comes to hurting his team due to poor performance or simply not playing. The media criticizes superstars such as LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Stephen Curry for underperforming in certain playoff series. However, while Leonard was criticized for underperforming in Game Seven of the second round in the 2020 playoffs, it wasn’t as much criticism as he should have received.

When the Clippers blew a 3-1 lead to the Denver Nuggets that year, many people directed most of their criticism at Paul George and Doc Rivers and very little at Leonard. The same media members that criticize other star players for not playing games due to resting are the same ones who fail to point out how Leonard hurts team chemistry because of a lack of reps with the team.

Many people ask, “if Leonard is supposed to be a franchise player and a superstar, why doesn’t he receive superstar-level criticism when things go wrong?”

The answer is that Leonard is a quiet man who doesn’t show much emotion or create controversy through public speaking and doesn’t create many headlines because he has no social media to cause controversy. Instead, what has caused controversy is Leonard sabotaging another franchise with his load management even when he is cleared to play in games.

Although they are paying him $136.9 million for the next three seasons, Leonard has yet to be consistently available to help the Clippers contend. Leonard, at the moment, is dealing with a knee injury that he is recovering from. However, this demonstrates why the George and Leonard duo has yet to come close to a title.

Even though management has built a contending roster around the two for the past few seasons, Leonard and George have yet to be available to build chemistry with these players. Because the Oklahoma City Thunder own the Clippers’ entire future with all of their first-round picks just for the Clippers to acquire George, the Clippers need to hope that this duo can at least make the finals.

If not, this will be one of the most disappointing experiments in recent memory and even in NBA history.