Stephen A. Smith Kawhi Leonard Credit: The Stephen A. Smith Show
By Matt Yoder on

Pablo Torre isn’t the only one seeking vindication after the NBA dropped the hammer on the Los Angeles Clippers over their salary cap circumvention scheme with Kawhi Leonard. So is Stephen A. Smith.

But while Torre is taking a well-deserved victory lap for showing what is still possible in the field of sports journalism in 2026, even as a largely independent voice, Smith is basking in the glory of his own take that Kawhi Leonard is the worst superstar in the history of sports.

To each his own.

It was in October 2024 that Stephen A. Smith unleashed a rant for the ages, even by his illustrious standards, about the Clippers star. On First Take, he dubbed Leonard the worst superstar in the history of sports.

“I can make a legitimate argument that Kawhi Leonard is the worst superstar in the history of any sport. You can’t have somebody like that, and it’s beneficial, who’s gonna miss work half the time and does absolutely nothing to promote your product or your brand. He is a poster child for what NOT to be as a star in any sport. Period,” Smith said.

Who knew those comments about doing nothing to promote brands would prove so prophetic! Did he have contacts at Aspiration and Daktronics all along that we just didn’t know about???

But now it’s not just his injury record or general sense of apathy. It’s the fact that he cost the Clippers 5 first-round draft picks, a $30 million fine, and multiple suspensions for owner Steve Ballmer and top executives in what may be the harshest penalties ever bestowed upon a major American professional sports franchise. And on the court, what did the Clippers have to show for it? One conference finals appearance and no playoff series victories since 2021.

So you certainly can’t fault Stephen A. for doubling down on his worst superstar in the world take on The Stephen A. Smith Show.

“Kawhi Leonard got off easy. $700,000 in restitution? He owes tens of millions of dollars for the amount of time he’s taken off work. I mean, I’m going to say it one more time for you all to understand the magnitude. Listen, Kawhi Leonard should give master classes for how to get paid for not working,” Smith said.

After torching Kawhi’s uncle Dennis Robertson, who received a five-year ban from the NBA, Stephen A. decided to go in on Leonard even more. He prefaced it by saying he doesn’t know Leonard personally and that he could be a good person. That set up completely burying him.

“He is the absolute worst superstar in the history of American sports. Because he never did anything to promote the game. He didn’t want to do interviews. He didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to promote anything. He had commercials with kids for New Balance, and the kids were talking, but not him. Clearly he knows how to speak! I don’t even know how to put into words what it took for him to speak. It don’t make no damn sense,” Smith added.

But that wasn’t all, as he also called out the Clippers and their top executives for being willing to bet it all on Kawhi Leonard and coming out on the losing end.

“This is some all-time egregious stuff. I take it back, all-time stupid stuff. Why was it stupid? Because it was for Kawhi Leonard. Not LeBron James. If this was for LeBron James, I understand. If this was for Steph Curry, I understand. Kawhi Leonard? You did that for Kawhi Leonard? And remember, this is dating back to like 2023. He had already been injured a few times since arriving with the Clippers. They’re already going nowhere. You did this for him? For him? It’s a new form of stupidity, and I don’t know if the Clippers will ever recover from this. This is catastrophic. This is so bad. Lawrence Frank is lucky he got a job. Steve Ballmer is lucky he hasn’t been banned from the league,” Smith declared.

With the Clippers’ punishment now doled out, it’s believed that the proposed trade sending Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors can now be completed. It will officially bring to an end what may be one of the worst, most disappointing, most destructive single-player tenures in all of American sports, given the lack of success, the money spent, and the wreckage left behind.

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