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We've Gotten a Little Too Comfortable Telling Athletes They Should Retire

Kawhi Leonard is the latest example.

Kyle Koster

Leonard is hurt again.
Leonard is hurt again. / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard is out indefinitely as he deals with inflammation in his knee. No one is surprised by this because Leonard has missed 274 regular season games since entering his age-26 season in 2017 and will likely be going down as one of the greatest what ifs of his generation. It's a bummer that the basketball-enjoying public has been robbed of watching the peak of what could have been an elite career and instead fairly think that it's always something with Leonard instead of seeing what heights he could have soared to and above.

It's important to point out that Leonard, despite missing all this time, finished in the top 10 of NBA MVP voting in five of the last six full seasons he played. And last year, even after all the setbacks, he played well enough to earn Second Team All-NBA honors. We've all been doing this dance for several years now, but something has changed in 2024 as some high-profile pundits have gotten out there and tried to nudge Leonard into retirement.

Kendrick Perkins was first on Thursday. Perkins implored Leonard to sit down with the organization and his family to decide if he wants to retire or not. This, of course, supposes that Leonard has not done any of this before. Like the idea that he'd have to seriously ponder his playing future hadn't occurred to him yet and a mid-day segment would be needed to swoop in and present the idea.

Emmanuel Acho was even more assertive on Friday's episode of The Facility, suggesting that it's time for Leonard to retire because he's diminishing his legacy, memories, and everything we know about him.

Look, Leonard may retire in short order. He may say no more surgeries and walk away. But man, we've all gotten pretty comfortable suggesting athletes should retire lately. In the case of Tua Tagovailoa, a person can understand the stakes and possible dangers. And even with all that it felt a bit out of line to tell someone else what they should do with their body and career. With Leonard we're not discussing avoiding some life-altering injury in anything close to the same way.

Perhaps this is just the state of play now. It feels new, though, and a little uncomfortable.

More than that, the suggestion that Leonard should retire now doesn't make much sense. Why wouldn't he see if he's able to get back on the court this year at least? The Clippers could make some noise in the playoffs and there's plenty of time before they begin because the regular season hasn't even begun. Retiring now would be super strange when he could simply get paid while he's mulling it over.

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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.

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