Stephen A. thinks Kawhi Leonard is THE WORST SUPERSTAR in the history of sports?! | First Take

Stephen A. thinks Kawhi Leonard is THE WORST SUPERSTAR in the history of sports?! | First Take

Clippers coach Ty Lou has signed a new deal through the 2028 2029 season that will make him one of the NBA’s highest paid coaches at approximately 14 million per year sources told our Adrien wowski Lou Who had one year left on his contract has gone 184 and 134 and Four Seasons with the Clippers which is the sixth best in the NBA during that stretch now the Clippers have have an offse season filled with question marks Paul George he’s got a player option on his contract while James Harden is an unrestricted free agent the Clippers also so only have one pick in the draft in the second round okay J tell me this was it a mistake for the Clippers to resign tyo was it was it a mistake for tyoo to get 14 million a year no that ain’t never no mistake that that’s never Ain no mistake he’s he’s he’s one of the best coaches in the NBA he deserves to be one of the highest paid coaches in the NBA now you can make the case that yes in order to get paid $14 million a year you are inevitably tying yourself to the likes of kawh Leonard and his health that could be in question but the question around did the Clippers make a mistake to sign CL Ty L for no no Stephen I can make the case that he’s worth more than 14 I mean him Eric sposa there are certain million was a mistake for Lou to resign resign with the Clippers no not for $14 million I mean a lot of people could say hey he should have gone to the Lakers one of the things that people don’t recognize that the Lakers cap wise they’re restricted because of the money that they’re trying to pay LeBron LeBron James on set to make 50 plus million dollars per year then you have Anthony Davis then that they sign another player you said he want to go to the market to get Trey young even though I would advis against that or a Donovan Mitchell or Paul George think about the amount of money so they historically have never paid their coaches I mean look even they have Phil Jackson maybe the greatest coach of all time he wasn’t breaking barriers like that so yeah I I get it on how being problematic for him to potentially tie himself to Ka but I can’t tell anybody stepen Andrea to turn down $14 million a year can’t do it sorry Andrea go ahead ladies first know I was going to say $14 million and job security I how many times have we talked about well potential job security me how many times have we talked about coaches going to to a new team spending a season there struggling spending a season or two and then getting fired like the way coaches are rotated and thrown around and tossed around and traded across the country and across different organizations for tyo this is his group they respect him I spent time with the Clippers when they played Utah earlier in the season it was about December when I spent time with them the players respect him he has a good pulse on this team and what they can be he sat down he talked to us pregame had so many good things to say about this group he enjoys this team so I think it’s the right decision for him the money the job security again the way coaches are thrown around this is his spot he feels good here I think it was a great decision for tyo well first of all a couple of things we have to take into consideration let’s give Steve Balmer um and Lawrence Franks props because this first of all tyo is one of the top three coaches in basketball let’s get that out the way right now he’s one of the top three coaches of basketall I don’t give a dam what anybody says secondly he’s been play with his hand tie behind his back because his resident Superstar ain’t available for 60% of the playoff games and 46% of the regular season games that’s number two number three knowing that you have to deal with that with that headache you know Ty still get you know he’s still recognizes one of the elite coaches in the game of basketball who I think was vastly underpaid for years and so to me you know I think they got him at a bargain I think Kyrie I if you got any coach out there the pap ofices of the world exposers of the world who is fantastic by the way and others that’s getting 17 Steve cerb of course he deserves his money you get they get 17 million a year Kat Tao deserves 17 million a year as far as I’m concerned the Clippers got him at a bargain as it pertains to the Los Angeles Lakers that was never an option which W Adrien W narowski had kept telling us from day one that was never an option that he was going to be the Lakers coach and we understood that uh but here’s the biggest reason to L should have been the coach before even Frank vogle got there the Lakers wanted to pick his staff they wanted to have say in assembling his staff now think about that for a second and y’all know how much I love jeie bus and you know how much I love the Lakers but let me tell you something even though I’m a DI Nicks fan but the bottom line is this tyloo was a champion when he was being interviewed for the Lakers job years ago how dare you come to him and try to pick his staff how dare you so I mean that was appalling on the part of the Los Angeles Lakers very very insulting okay that should have never been the case and the bottom line is tyoo wasn’t interested in that so he ends up being with the clippers but he deserves every penny and more he’s one of the top three coaches in basketball right now as we speak his game plan is schematically his adjustments during the game you know his willingness and ability to hold dudes accountable garnering the respect of players in today’s generation because we know how stuff can be I can’t say enough about the man personally again other than this he’s underpaid he’s still underpaid moving into their new Arena they’re gonna have their own state-ofthe-art Englewood it’s supposed to be incredible next season do you think it’s time to break up PG-13 in kawhai I mean if I were Paul George I would go somewhere else if I were Paul George I would be looking at that Philadelphia situation literally playing alongside Joel embiid and the reason why is they got a lot of money in Philly yeah a lot of money in Philly but also it it’s I love Kawai but if you’re not available what position does that put me in if I want to win championships Y and Paul dorge came to play with kawhai but if kawhai can’t be there Stephen A Drea at the end of the day what Joel embiid showed me is that he’s willing to play through the injuries and it was it was a it was a different level for Joelle embiid this season in the postseason we saw fight through a lot of different things if I’m Paul George I’m going to play with that that’s where I’m going yeah you know I think it’s tough because the way that this team played this Clippers team in December do you all remember what we were saying about this Clippers team in December people were talking about this team potentially being a championship winning team they had a eight-game win streak they had the best record what was it from December 1st to like January 20th when Kawai was in the lineup I know his availability is a problem but if you think about it he’s been building so if we give it one more season we being the Clippers if I’m on the Clipper side if I’m on Paul George’s side you’re in La can we give get one more season and see if Kawai can have a full season of Health regular season and playoffs included things have to be figured out with Kawai obviously we know this has been an issue but if he is willing to I don’t know what it looks like whether it’s take a couple games off during the regular season and space out the way he puts pressure on his body I don’t know what the process has to look like but this team was good in December this team was a finals contending team in December we all saw the way that this group played together we all saw the way kwe Ka Kawai and pg3 played on the floor together it’s not like their their Dynamic on the court was an issue so the way that they played and the stretch that they had for me it is worth staying for and seeing if this group can finally get it done and finally do something in the playoffs like I know that pg3 and Kawai were so excited to play on the same team together Kawai has to be available they were almost Indiana Pacers back in the day if anybody remembers that they were almost on the same team before they were excited about this opportunity so I think they give it one more shot um I don’t mean this towards the both of you this is not directed at you Andrea nor you Jay I’m just talking about basketball analysts out there who praise um kawh Lena so much I’m sick of y’all I’m really I’m really sick of y’all this is the worst superar now the word Superstar is applicable here cuz he is a superstar when healthy on the basketball court this is not a conversation about his ability when healthy he is a two-time champion a two-time NBA Finals MVP the brother is a big time basketball player Jay this is not a discussion about his skills and how Elite I got you this is this is the this is the worst Superstar I can make a case this is the worst superstar in the history of sports he is a nightmare you’re talking about the first four years of of his time with the Clippers he’s averaged 40.3 point 40.3 games a year a season 40.3 he played 68 games this past year and then again he wasn’t available for players do you know that kawh Leonard hasn’t been available for 15 of the last 19 Clippers playoff games do you know that the year that they went to the Conference Finals which by the way was without him because he got hurt before they got to the Conference Finals do you know they haven’t won a playoff series since and this man somehow someway I I first let me confess I’m kind of jealous I’m kind of jealous Jay because somehow someway no matter what his lack of availability is don’t you notice how that’s never the issue come negotia time right around the time it’s trying to negotiate the brother available right around the time time him to get his money oh he’s on the court right around the time of time him to get his money I mean you see him in the clip of uniform all right but then the second the man get his money you got to APB out hey he can’t find them okay and then here’s the thing this is the thing cuz that’s injury related Andrea and I get that put him up on the screen because I want to look at Jay and Andrea that’s injury related so I get it Andrea where I’m so disgusted with him he makes no effort to promote the game to promote his team to promote the NBA brand zero even do y’all know with his new balance commercials you had little kids speaking cuz he wouldn’t talk what you think about that I got I got commercial that I sign to endorse your product and I won’t even speak it’s the truth Molly I’m not exaggerating here go come on y’all

On First Take, Stephen A. Smith, Jay Williams and Andraya Carter join Molly Qerim to discuss all things Los Angeles Clippers.
0:00 Is Ty Lue making a mistake?
2:30 A top three head coach in the NBA?
5:30 Time to break up Kawhi Leonard and Paul George?

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