Kawhi Leonard

CTL-E-5912 · Person · other · 1991–present

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07157 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-5912.

Kawhi Leonard, born Kawhi Anthony Leonard on 29 June 1991 in Los Angeles, California, is an American forward for the Toronto Raptors and one of the defining two-way players of his era. California's Mr. Basketball at Riverside's Martin Luther King High School, he played two seasons at San Diego State, where his No. 15 was later retired, and was drafted 15th overall in 2011 by Indiana, which traded him to San Antonio on draft night. With the Spurs he won the 2014 championship and Finals MVP and consecutive Defensive Player of the Year awards in 2015 and 2016. Traded to Toronto in 2018, he delivered the Raptors' first championship in 2019, winning a second Finals MVP, then signed with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he played from 2019 to 2026. A seven-time All-Star and member of the NBA 75th Anniversary Team, he was traded back to Toronto on 30 June 2026 and opened the 2026-27 preseason with the Raptors in October 2026. On 2 September 2026 the NBA announced the outcome of its salary-cap circumvention investigation into his Clippers tenure, fining Leonard $700,000 in restitution while imposing larger penalties on the club and its owner.

The record

• Also known as: Kawhi Anthony Leonard, The Klaw

Notes

Staged 2026-10-16 under CTL-GOV-006 (Census Intake Wave 3 — 747 Program, Wave 9; 40-record packet). Gate A (2026-10-16): no Kawhi Leonard entity in the live graph at 3,603 entities (exact / normalized / alias + token containment); ID CTL-E-5912 free. Supply: 747 Supply Ledger, Tier 3 — Famous Birthdays ABSENT census, readiness rank 1042 (Basketball Players list). The census supplied the NAME ONLY; no fact in this record is sourced to it (CTL-GOV-004). SCOPE GATE: PASS — Black American forward — Los Angeles-born two-time Finals MVP. Vital status: LIVING — dated 2026 evidence: played in Toronto's October 2026 preseason and spoke to media after his Raptors return (Heavy, 13-14 October 2026 coverage). STATISTICS (sourced, dated): Two championships (2014, 2019) and two Finals MVP awards; two Defensive Player of the Year awards (2015, 2016); seven All-Star selections through 2026 (ESPN; Wikipedia) — accessed 2026-10-16. MEDIA: photo HELD (NBA, Spurs, Raptors and Clippers press photography of Leonard; a CTL-created graphic is the cleared alternative.); chart FILLED (charts/chart-ctl-e-5912-kawhi-leonard.svg); video HELD (the Shorts Link Map catalog was checked by name and variants — no matching-entity CTL Short exists for this subject); audio HELD (no CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio). MEDIA LAYER (staged 2026-10-16; full per-asset PHOTO-001 records + embed specs in the packet's staged JSON, Drive packet folder): map = N/A (Person records carry no map slot under the media-layer rule; maps attach to places and institutions.) | visual_assets = HELD: | chart = FILLED (CTL-created SVG (black / deep red / gold) built only from this record's sourced facts) | video = HELD (No matching-entity CTL Short in the Shorts Link Map catalog (checked by name and variants), and no official/em) | audio = HELD (No CTL-owned or rights-cleared matching-entity audio at staging; the subject's own recordings/appearances are )

Sources

• ESPN, "Kawhi Leonard Biography" — team listed as Toronto Raptors; born 29 June 1991, Los Angeles; San Diego State; drafted 2011, round 1, pick 15 by Indiana; two Finals MVP awards (2014, 2019) and two Defensive Player of the Year awards (2015, 2016) — https://www.espn.ph/nba/player/bio/_/id/6450/kawhi-leonard (primary source · build store)
• Wikipedia, "Kawhi Leonard" — career history: San Antonio 2011-2018, Toronto 2018-2019, Los Angeles Clippers 2019-2026, Toronto 2026-present; two championships and two Finals MVPs; seven All-Star selections through 2026; traded back to Toronto on 30 June 2026 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kawhi_Leonard (build store)
• New York Post, "For Kawhi Leonard, things are looking pretty good. For Clippers, not so much" (22 September 2026) — the NBA's investigation outcome: the club forfeited five first-round picks and its owner was fined and suspended; Leonard was ordered to pay $700,000 restitution and was not suspended; he agreed a two-year extension with Toronto — https://nypost.com/2026/09/22/sports/kawhi-leonard-is-living-well-while-clippers-are-struggling/ (build store)

More person records

• James Svec
• James Toney
• James Van Der Zee
• James W. Cole
• James W. Southward Sr.
• James Weldon Johnson

Browse the full directory: all entity records

Record CTL-E-5912 · Combined Graph record U-07157 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
Directory: all entity records · the knowledge graph

Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.

Cite this record

Citation guidance for teachers, journalists, and funders: How to Cite Us.

From the Archive

The archive in pictures

The people, places, and institutions this work documents. Photographs from the CultureTechLens research record — rights-cleared, credited, and cited like everything else here.