Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard has been named by NBA commissioner Adam Silver as an addition to the U.S. player pool for the All-Star Game, the league announced (via Twitter).
The Feb. 15 All-Star Game will feature two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players, with each team consisting of at least eight players. After the selection of the initial 24 All-Stars, Leonard was added to bring the total number of U.S. All-Stars to 16, the minimum required under the format.
A 14-year NBA veteran, Leonard has earned his seventh All-Star selection. He was the All-Star Game MVP in 2020 and had been considered one of the biggest snubs after the All-Star reserves were revealed on Sunday.
Leonard is averaging a career-high 27.6 points (seventh in the NBA), 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and a league-leading 2.1 steals in 36 games. He is shooting 49.7% from the field, 39.1% from 3-point range and 91.3% from the free throw line (fourth in the NBA).
Leonard has scored at least 20 points in each of his last 28 games, including a career-high 55-point performance against the Pistons on Dec. 28.
It’s now expected Knicks big man Karl-Anthony Towns – who has represented the Dominican Republic in international play – will play for the World team, ESPN’s Shams Charania tweets.
Can’t have the hosting team not have a representative.
I’ve been kind’ve paying attention to that team, not much really, but did not realize kawhis numbers were that good across the board this season.
Kawhi’s numbers are always good across the board in every stat except games played.
Who’s injured?
Is he taking Giannis’ spot?
Hence towns moving to the world team?
Gotta be this.
This is such a lame trick to weaken the international team
How are they weakening the international team by adding a great big?
He deserves it. Kawhi has been a tad bit faster, plays with more force/purpose, heck more games played this season, so far.
However CLIPPERS fans, Ballmer himself should thank Pablo Torre ……. if it weren’t for Torre’s investigations, Kawhi would have still been playing the load management bit.
He and Uncle Dennis got exposed, have to work to buy some fan equity. Everyone knows this.
Yeah he does deserve it this yr. Played more than Bron and better stats. Only Clippers record jeot him off imo.