Kendrick Perkins Explains Why Kawhi Leonard Is The Best Player To Have Never Won MVP

Kawhi Leonard has accomplished a fair bit in his NBA career, but there is one thing missing from his impressive resume, an MVP award. Leonard has been in contention for the award a few times in his career but has never won it and Kendrick Perkins stated on NBA Today, that he is the best player to have never won MVP.

"I'm going Kawhi Leonard," Perkins said. "Kawhi Leonard-Jordan. Some of the greatest playoff runs in the history of the game. Then broke up happy homes. He then made one of the greatest players of all time tap out and I'm talking about LeBron James, especially when Kawhi was in San Antonio.

"What he did (in) that Finals run when he was in Toronto, helping them deliver their first championship in franchise history, Kawhi Leonard is the guy that I'm rolling with," Perkins concluded.

I think Leonard, who has career averages of 20.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game, certainly has a case. The 33-year-old's title run in 2019 with the Toronto Raptors, which Perkins was referring to, was incredible and was the crowning moment of what has been a great career.

In all, Leonard has won two titles, two Finals MVPs, and two DPOY awards. The six-time All-Star has also made six All-NBA teams and seven All-Defensive teams.

As for why Leonard failed to win MVP, some of his best seasons came at a time when others had some all-time great campaigns. He finished second in MVP voting in 2016, the year Stephen Curry won the award unanimously for leading the Golden State Warriors to a 73-9 record.

Leonard was third a year later when Russell Westbrook won it for becoming the first player since Oscar Robertson to average a triple-double for a season. If Curry and Westbrook hadn't had those historic seasons, maybe he would have had one MVP to his name.

As for who else is in contention for the title of best player not to win NBA MVP, Dwyane Wade and Jerry West were two names that were brought up on the show. I would say they are pretty good shouts. 

The closest Wade got to winning MVP was in 2009 when he finished third. He only got seven first-place votes, though, compared to 109 for LeBron James, who won the award. 

West, meanwhile, finished runner-up for MVP four times in his career, twice to Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and once to Wilt Chamberlain and Willis Reed. He came fairly close to beating Reed to the award in 1970, with 51 first-place votes to 61. Considering how many times West got close to winning it, I might give him the edge over Leonard and Wade.

Can Kawhi Leonard And The Clippers Prove The Doubters Wrong In 2024-25?

Leonard and his Los Angeles Clippers enter the 2024-25 season with next to no expectations. Following Paul George's departure in free agency this offseason, the Clippers' doubters have completely written them off.

Leonard would be hoping to prove them wrong, but that won't be an easy task by any means. The Western Conference will be stronger this upcoming season and I struggle to see the Clippers finishing as a top-four seed as they did in 2023-24, when they had a 51-31 record.

A big reason why the Clippers had that record last season was Leonard managing to play in 72 games and the chances of that happening again seem slim to me. Even if he does stay healthy, he'll need James Harden to step up and lessen the blow of George's departure and I have my doubts about that as well.