What if I told you the Indiana Pacers could have had Kawhi Leonard on their roster for the first seven years of his career, possibly longer?
He’s a two-time NBA Champion (and Finals MVP), a four-time All-Star, a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, and a five-time All-Defensive Team member. The list goes on and on, and some belive Leonard is on his way to his third NBA title.
Would it not be for the mass of games he’s missed due to injury this season, there’s an argument to be made for his 26.9 point, 7.3 rebound, 5.0 assist season this year to be an MVP bid.
Kawhi Leonard came into the league as a raw, underrated prospect. His all-around skill-set and defensive mentality was solid, but his offensive game was raw. Connecting the dots between his prospect status and him being a reliable scorer in the league was difficult for some teams to do.
Leonard slid down the draft board to 15, where the Indiana Pacers had the opportunity to grab him. They did, but then would trade him for George Hill. Here’s how the trade shook out:
Hill, at the time, was a reliable player, but not an extremely special or proven star in the league. Having just closed out his third year, the incredible 3-point shot we know from him today (this season he averages 48.0 percent beyond the arc) wasn’t yet there (shot a respectable 37.7 percent the season before this trade) and he was averaging 11.6 points and 2.9 assists in 28.3 minutes per game, mainly coming off the bench.
He filled a similar role in his first year with Indiana.
At his peak with the team, he was a regular starter and averaged 16.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game (2014-15). In his five years with the team he averaged 12.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 3.9 assists on 44.8 percent shooting from the field and 37.6 percent beyond the arc.
Hill was a solid player for the Pacers. He was one of the main faces of the team in the Paul George era that consistently gave LeBron James and the Miami Heat trouble.
Kawhi Leonard gave the Heat more trouble, defeating them in the postseason, something Hill and the Pacers could never do. Leonard led the team in the series they won, securing Finals MVP.
Hindsight is 20/20, but this was a massive miss for the Indiana Pacers. Leonard was groomed and developed in San Antonio to some degree, and the high-level program that Gregg Popovich has implemented over the years certainly helped Leonard reach his peak early. But Leonard is known to be a hard worker, a committed player, and a pure competitor.
Leonard returned the respect to his program, signing on with them for four years after his first four with the team.
He would have made any team better. Yes, the Pacers included.
Ultimately, Leonard and the Spurs would have a falling out due to a medical controversy where his own doctors gave him a different level of clearance than team doctors.
It’s likely, though, that Leonard may have re-signed with the Pacers had they drafted him, and had him on their roster for eight seasons.
Why did the Indiana Pacers trade Kawhi Leonard?
The Indiana Pacers traded Kawhi Leonard because they thought George Hill would provide a more immediate push toward competitiveness for the team. Evidently, that wasn’t the right choice.
Even worse, the Pacers could have paired Leonard with Paul George (who was already on the roster when the team selected Leonard), the very player that Leonard hand-picked to team up with on the LA Clippers this offseason.
It would have been dynastical.
It would have resulted in championships almost undoubtedly.
It would have put the Pacers in a place to dominate, and finally push past the boundary of the LeBron James-led teams in the league.
It could have restored some parity in the league in the process, too. There are a ton of butterfly effect runoffs that may have happened had the Pacers kept Leonard.
This may be one of the biggest mistakes in Pacers history. We recently called it the biggest blunder in recent draft history for the team, and that holds up.
As a result, this trade gets a failing grade.