Kawhi Leonard isn’t a robot. OK!?
The Toronto Raptors star may not laugh often. He may not smile much. But he’s a fun guy. Just ask him. Just ask his teammate Kyle Lowry.
In a recent interview with The Athletic, Lowry was discussing his teammate, Leonard, and what he’s like behind the scenes amid the team’s run up to the 2019 NBA Finals, for which they clinched a berth on Saturday night during their win over the Milwaukee Bucks. During the interview, something surprising came up.
Here’s what Lowry said about Leonard with The Athletic’s Michael Lee:
“Right away, first day. People don’t know, he really is an unbelievable dude, really an unbelievable guy. It’s fortunate for us to be on our team and to be around him. He jokes. He really laughs and has fun with everything. He really is a good guy.”
He really laughs? That’s like New England Patriots players saying Bill Belichick is funny. It simply cannot be true. Look, we all know that Kawhi’s laugh sounds like someone failed to properly install the laugh track on a robot. It’s awesome, surprising and … unique.
Generally, we don’t get to see that laugh (or smile) at all — which is a sad outcome for everyone. Kawhi doesn’t get to laugh, and we don’t get to witness his eccentricity. But that’s just Kawhi — he’s a stone-faced competitor. After winning the Eastern Conference Finals, for example, Leonard provided an impressively steely interview while being reminded he helped the Raptors make the NBA Finals for the first time in the franchise’s history.
The dude was ice cold. No smile. No emotion. Nothing.
Lowry, meanwhile, was fully of emotion when realizing he and Toronto were headed to the finals to play the Golden State Warriors. He was elated, laughing to himself on the court and hugging his children endlessly after the game.
I’m not saying that I don’t believe Lowry — nor am I saying that Kawhi is a robot designed to dominate at basketball. I’m also not not saying that. And I’m also not totally convinced that Kawhi “really laughs.”
