Kawhi Anthony Leonard was born on 29 June 1991, in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a professional basketball player, best known for playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) team, the San Antonio Spurs. He became the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 2014, and has won various other awards. All of his efforts have helped put his net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Kawhi Leonard? As of mid-2016, sources estimate a net worth that is at $25 million, mostly earned through his career as a basketball player. He has received high valued contracts as a result of his performances and now he reportedly earns around $16 million annually. He’s had a basketball career dating back to his high school days and as he continues playing it is expected that his wealth will increase.
Kawhi Leonard Net Worth $25 Million Dollars
Kawhi attended and played at Canyon Springs High School, and then transferred to King High School during his junior year. He helped the King High Wolves to a 30-3 record during his senior year, and won the title of California Mr. Basketball. After high school, he was considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com and was the number eight small forward in the rankings.
He became part of San Diego State University, and helped the team achieve a 25-9 record during his freshman year. They would go on to the NCAA Tournament but lost to Tennessee. Despite this, Leonard became the Mountain West Conference freshman of the year. He improved his performance in his sophomore year, with the team setting a 34-3 record. They would go on to the NCAA tournament, placing higher until they were defeated by the eventual champions UConn. After this season, he would enter the 2011 NBA Draft.
Kawhi was selected as the 15th overall pick by the Indiana Pacers, but was then traded to the San Antonio Spurs, with whom he signed a multi-year deal with the team after the 2011 NBA lockout. In 2012, he became the starting small forward after Richard Jefferson was traded to the Golden State Warriors, and made fourth place in the Rookie of the Year voting, and became part of the 2012 USA men’s basketball Select Team, training with the Olympic team which included Kevin Durant, Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and Chris Paul. The following season, he was re-signed to the Spurs, and helped the team get to the NBA Finals in which they were defeated by the Miami Heat in seven games.
In the 2013 to 2014, season, Leonard scored a season-high 26 points and had a high percentage from the field. The Spurs would go on and get a 62-20 record, meeting the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals once again, and this time they proved successful with a career-high 29 points from Kawhi, winning the series 4-1 record and he was named as the NBA Finals MVP, the the third-youngest player to win the award behind Magic Johnson. The following year he suffered a bit during the start of the season due to an eye infection. Despite this, he still performed well, but was injured during December and missed 15 games. He then went on to a career high 7 steals in one game, eventually becoming the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. He scored a career-high 32 point game during the playoffs, but the Spurs lost against the Los Angeles Clippers. He was then signed to a five-year $90 million contract, and his net worth received a significant boost. In the 2015 to 2016 season he became part of the 2016 All Star-Game and was voted as a starter. The Spurs would once again reach the playoffs, but were defeated by the Oklahoma City Thunder.
For his personal life, it is known that he is in a relationship with Kishele Shipley and they are expecting a child. Kawhi’s father was killed at a Compton car wash in 2008, the result of a murder that still has not been resolved. Aside from this, he is also the cousin of San Diego Chargers’ receiver Stevie Johnson.
