As far as I know, there’s no easy way to do it. Basically you have to manually cross reference spotrac data against basketball-reference data. Would be awesome if someone built out a data set to calculate automatically.

Check what years Kawhi got a new contract and then check his stats the year before

AI can actually be useful for something like this.

Taken from Gemini:

Kawhi Leonard is often cited as a player whose production remains remarkably consistent, but he has historically seen efficiency and playmaking spikes during seasons involving contract negotiations or potential free agency.

Career Averages (Regular Season)

PPG RPG APG SPG FG% 3P% FT% 20.5 6.4 3.1 1.7 49.8% 39.1% 86.3%

Contract Year & Extension Comparison Kawhi’s contract timeline includes several key windows: his rookie extension (2015), his move to L.A. (2019), his 2021 opt-out/re-sign, and his most recent 2024 extension.

Season Team PPG RPG APG FG% 3P% Status Following Season

2014–15 Spurs 16.5 7.2 2.5 47.9% 34.9% Signed 5yr/$90M (RFA)

2018–19 Raptors 26.6 7.3 3.3 49.6% 37.1% Signed 3yr/$103M (UFA)

2020–21 Clippers 24.8 6.5 5.2 51.2% 39.8% Signed 4yr/$176M (UFA)

2023–24 Clippers 23.7 6.1 3.6 52.5% 41.7% Signed 3yr/$152M Ext.

Key Performance Trends The 2018–19 “Walk Year”: After being traded to Toronto, Kawhi posted what were then career-highs in scoring (26.6 PPG) and rebounding (7.3 RPG). This production, capped by a championship and Finals MVP, allowed him to dictate his terms as the premier free agent of 2019.  

The Playmaking Leap (2020–21): Heading into a player-option year, Leonard displayed his best passing season to date, averaging a career-high 5.2 assists. This demonstrated to the Clippers that he could serve as a primary initiator, securing him a maximum four-year deal despite injury concerns.

The Efficiency Peak (2023–24): In the season he signed his most recent extension (January 2024), Kawhi was arguably at his most clinical. His 52.5% field goal and 41.7% three-point marks are both significantly higher than his career averages, reinforcing his value as an elite three-level scorer even as he enters his mid-30s.

**2025–26 Performance: In the current 2025–26 season, Leonard is currently averaging a career-high 28.0 points per game, though recent reports suggest uncertainty regarding his contract status due to ongoing league investigations into his 2024 extension

The Pistons ended up eating 37 mil off the end of that contract, in exchange for… the rights to Jalen Duren in that draft. We love Kemba. He was technically a Knick by that point but it was the Boston contract and NY was clearing space to sign Brunson at the time

Seriously. You’re supposed to ask for a sub before shaving years off your own career in an all star game, in your words.

When did Kuz get his second? The Lakers stint is obvious, but I didn’t follow the league as closely the last few years, so I might’ve missed something. Kawhi obviously has two, 2014 Spurs and 2019 Raptors.

Lebron’s is way crazier. He averages about 71 games a season during the regular season, so he averages ~12.5 playoff games per season. Kawhi only averages 55 games per season, so that’s only ~10 playoff games per season. Taking into account how many seasons Lebron has played, that stat is insane. His average season gets to the conference finals considering the average playoff series is ~5.5 games.

Note: numbers may be off as I’m doing all of this on my phone from the bathroom at work.

Do you want to count the IST banner?

Should Durant be treated differently because he had to play the Heatles in 2012 instead of an injured Warriors in 2019

Why are we making this comment like Toronto was some team in the slums lmao

The greatest team ever that notably did not win a title

Why ignore Kawhis other ring tho where he did significantly less than KD did?

Add them together and there is a strong case that Durant in totality contributed more to his rings than Kawhi did his.

Also “Steph made offense easy for KD” is the most overblown shit ever. If that were true, numbers would show a down tick when he wasn’t with the warriors and it just does not exist. KDs numbers actually took a hit when he went to the Warriors.

His numbers last year were actually even better than his best year on the warriors. KD makes offense easy for KD man. He was even better offensively in Brooklyn immediately after leaving in fact.