Tim Sweeney Jr. knew Kawhi Leonard was a special talent the first time the Riverside, California kid walked into the gym at Martin Luther King High School. Leonard was a junior at the time, but Sweeney could already tell he was NBA-bound.
“Oh boy, do I remember,” Sweeney said during an appearance on Prime Time Sports, when asked about that first meeting. “Long, gangly kid, good sized body, raw in many respects but talent unbelievable.”
Sweeney immediately spread the word, with his first call going to his own father, a longtime high school and college coach.
“I gave him a call immediately and said, ‘You’ve got to get to the gym right now,'” he said.
“I had a loaded team, I mean all-community kids, and he came on down and I said, ‘Dad, look: He’s an NBA player.'”
Both father and son agreed, as Leonard took a few trips up and down the court, but Sweeney Jr. was quick to correct himself.
“I said ‘No, I’m going to make another statement, Dad,’ I said, ‘He is going to be an NBA All-Star.'”.
He was right, of course — three times over, in addition to a laundry list of other impressive accomplishments including an NBA Championship title with the San Antonio Spurs in which he was named Finals MVP. Only, not everyone was as quick to believe Sweeney’s predictions.
“I told everybody — my colleagues, I told people around school media, college coaches, everybody laughed,” he reflected.
Leonard wound up playing his college basketball at nearby San Diego State University, and would go on to be drafted 15th overall by the Indiana Pacers.
“Even when Kawhi was being drafted, all the GMs and everybody that were interviewing me on Kawhi [asked] ‘What do you think?’ and I said, ‘You’re getting an NBA All-Star.’ And they all chuckled: ‘Nah, we think we’re getting a journeyman,'” explained Sweeney. “And I’m like, ‘OK, go ahead and go with what you’re going to go with.’ But you know, he should be your No. 1 guy, period.”
Now Leonard is the No. 1 guy, playing his best basketball and leading the Toronto Raptors to the franchise’s first-ever NBA Finals where they’ll face the Golden State Warriors. And while a lot has changed since his high school days, Sweeney sees the same old Kawhi — and that’s a good thing.
“It’s like he’s wearing our King High jersey still,” Sweeney said. “It is the same Kawhi, literally, he’s playing the same way, plays with the same intensity, he’s got that ice in his veins. He just is going to show a little bit of emotion but you know deep inside he’s as competitive as hell. Losing is not in Kawhi Leonard’s vocabulary.”
Sweeney understands where Kawhi came from, he’s grouped with the rest of us when it comes to wondering where he’ll play next year.
“He’s a very introverted guy and everybody knows that. He’s not going to share a lot. His focus right now is, bring a championship to Canada and Toronto and celebrate, and take probably a little time and then figure things out,” he said. “My opinion is that I think he’s going to stay. I think Toronto’s a great fit but I could be wrong.”
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