As Kawhi Leonard moved to center stage for his moment with Bill Russell, his San Antonio Spurs teammates raised their arms, grabbed a wrist with one hand, and splayed the fingers of the other as wide as possible. The group “Klaw” sign, an homage to Leonard’s mammoth mitts, was accompanied by joyous roughhousing to celebrate their 2014 title.
The then-22-year-old forward became the NBA’s youngest Finals MVP other than Magic Johnson, largely on the strength of his defense against Miami Heat star LeBron James. Suddenly, it appeared that Gregg Popovich had another budding franchise player to take the baton from Tim Duncan.