#7 Kawhi Leonard

In an ideal world, Kawhi's popularity should have soared through the roof in the past NBA season after leading the Spurs to another deep playoff run. Instead, he injured his quadriceps during the summer, got misdiagnosed, fell out with the Spurs' front office and played just 9 games of the season while trying to stage an exit from San Antonio.

He eventually succeeded in his efforts, as the Raptors traded DeMar DeRozan and Jakob Poeltl for him and Danny Green. It remains to be seen how good he is after injury, but one can be optimistic about him considering that it wasn't a serious one that would have a complicated recovery regimen. Thus far, all reports point to the same thing.
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A fit and firing Kawhi Leonard ranks right there alongside Scottie Pippen as the greatest defender at his position, and his ultra-refined, efficient offensive repertoire were the reason the Spurs had a 61-21 record in the 2016-17 season. I, for one, am stoked to see him finally take the hardwood at 100% this go-around.
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