Kawhi Leonard has long been perceived as a quiet, unique personality.
That entire perception reached a new level this postseason with the “Board man gets paid” memes, fake Kawhi stories and, of course, the return of The Laugh.
But if you ask Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, the NBA world’s image of Kawhi couldn’t be more off base. While Kawhi’s personality did play out during both his post-championship interview and parade speech, Nurse said that Kawhi had been known all season as the “funniest guy” in the film room.
In an interview with ESPN’s Zach Lowe on The Lowe Post podcast, Nurse specifically recalled Leonard taking over a speech with his hilarious one-liners. Nurse thought back to the Eastern Conference Finals series with the Bucks as he tried to relay a story from his D League coaching days to the Raptors.
Kawhi wasn’t having any of it.
Nurse said:
“He’s the funniest guy in the film room because he waits and delivers the knockout punchline.”
He continued:
“I just told them that one time in the D League, we won a Game 1 on the road. It was actually against Rio Grande Valley, and nobody really expected us to. We went down there — we lost all our players to call-ups. And they were great. And all of the sudden, we get back home and the city of Des Moines was going crazy because we were up 1-0 and had two home games. We were going to win the D League title. They were planning parades, asking us for ring sizes. Next game, we went out and got beat by about 25. I was just trying to tell that story to say to the guys, ‘Listen, everybody’s gonna try to take you to places that you’re not to yet. You can’t let that happen.’
“So, I started telling the story about parades, and Kawhi jumped in right in the middle and goes, ‘The D League? I’m done listening to this story.’
“So, I had to take the heckling and move on.”
Never underestimate the enthusiasm of Des Moines, Iowa, Kawhi. But apparently, jokes like that were a common occurrence for Kawhi and the Raptors.
He knows how to deliver the knockout blow.
You can listen to the full podcast here.
