Even after finishing second in MVP voting and winning Defensive Player of the Year in 2015-16, Kawhi Leonard did not receive a single vote in a preseason survey of NBA general managers who were asked to name the best small forward in the game. Every vote went to LeBron James or Kevin Durant. None of the league's executives were ready to make the claim that Leonard was a better player.
Despite that -- and reporting from ESPN's Brian Windhorst that many top players find praise for Leonard excessive -- there's plenty of evidence to suggest Leonard has outplayed KD and LeBron this season, especially when going up against the NBA's best small forwards.
So, who has been among the top three? Let's take a look at Leonard's case in our latest player rankings.
The case for Leonard
Leonard began the season by outscoring Durant and dropping 35 points in a statement win at Golden State on opening night. Then on Saturday, in his first tilt of the season with James, Leonard was once again the best player on the floor as he erupted for 41 points in a road win at Cleveland. That performance helped Leonard finish No. 1 in our weekly rankings.
Leonard has scored at least 30 points in each of his past six games and leads the NBA in game score over that span. Leonard's play against the Cavs served as the crown jewel of a week in which he averaged more than 36 PPG on 56 percent shooting while sinking 24 of 25 free throws.
But Leonard's leap goes beyond one great week or two great nights against the game's best. He's averaging more than 25 PPG with a usage rate over 30, something no Spurs player has done under Gregg Popovich, all while leading San Antonio to the second-best record in the NBA. If it was in progress (or legitimately questioned) before, Leonard's evolution into a legitimate No. 1 offensive option capable of taking over games appears complete.
There's perhaps no better indicator of that than looking at how he has performed when matched up against the NBA's best small forwards. There are 10 small forwards this season averaging at least 20 points per game. In addition to Leonard, James and Durant, that group includes All-Star starters Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jimmy Butler, in addition to Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Andrew Wiggins, Gordon Hayward and Harrison Barnes.
Though Leonard has not played against Hayward, Anthony or George this season, he has played 10 games against the remaining members of that club. He has outscored the opposing player in nine of them, the exception being Dec. 5 against Milwaukee when he was outscored 22 to 21 by Antetokounmpo. San Antonio won that game, in part thanks to Leonard's 16 points in the fourth quarter. Add up the collective performances of those players going against Leonard and it's apparent that Leonard has clearly outplayed his top-shelf peer group.
Taking it one step further, we can look at how this same group has collectively performed against each other and come up with a comprehensive game score for only those games.
This is where Leonard truly stands out, as he has delivered an average game score of 25.9, far and away the best average of the group. Just how good is that? According to Basketball-Reference.com, Michael Jordan is the only player to average a game score that high for an entire season.
Leonard hasn't quite entered the discussion for the MVP award with Russell Westbrook and James Harden, but if he keeps playing like this he could make the race even more interesting. He has taken his game to rarefied air, right alongside James and Durant for the title of best small forward in the NBA. Even if LeBron and KD would still be the top choices to win a playoff series right now, Leonard deserves to be considered at their level halfway through this season.
He's now up to eighth in our season-long rankings, just behind James.
Best of the rest
Harden overtook Westbrook for our top spot as they continue to trade places seemingly every week. Harden finished in fifth this week, far ahead of Westbrook (24th). While Harden's week brought his season average up 0.2 points, Westbrook's week dropped him nearly half a point.
Karl-Anthony Towns delivered by far his best week of the season. After not finishing higher than seventh in any of the first 12 weeks of our rankings, Towns had an average game score of 27.1, narrowly edging out Eric Bledsoe for third this week. He was a monster, averaging more than 32 PPG and 12 RPG while making two-thirds of his shots. On Sunday, he became the second player in franchise history with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 blocks in a single game, joining Kevin Garnett, who did it in his MVP season.
We can't mention Bledsoe without giving him some more love. Bledsoe poured in 29 PPG in four games while averaging almost four times as many assists as turnovers. Bledsoe got to the line 38 times in four games and made all but one. Though the Suns have floundered near the bottom of the standings, Bledsoe is quietly one of four players averaging 20 PPG, 6 APG and 5 RPG. The others are Westbrook, Harden and James.
Isaiah Thomas continued to fill it up, averaging a league-best 38.3 PPG last week. Thomas is now at 33.2 PPG for the month of January and is threatening the Celtics' scoring record for a calendar month. Paul Pierce averaged 33.5 PPG in February 2006.
Last but not least in our weekly honorable mention goes to Nikola Jokic, who slogged through five games in seven days that featured a pair of back-to-backs. In those five games, Jokic averaged more than 26 points and 11 rebounds while playing 31-plus minutes. Over the past 20 years, the list of players to average 25 and 10 while playing five games in a single week is not long: LaMarcus Aldridge, Shawn Marion, Chris Webber, Shaquille O'Neal, Antonio McDyess and Shawn Kemp. And now, Jokic.