Kawhi Leonard, the sphinx-like secret keeper of the NBA, has perhaps the most amazing Twitter presence of all the NBA greats. (One thing Leonard can’t keep secret is this: he’s averaging 27.2 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.8 steals in his first year leading the NBA title contender Toronto Raptors.)
Sure LeBron James has 42 million followers, but James has a lot to say online — James has tweeted more than 6300 times. Leonard’s taciturn Twitter account is the polar opposite, highly unusual for an NBA superstar but not unusual for Leonard in its characteristic quietude. James, for instance, has tweeted 1575 times for every one of Leonard’s tweets. And that’s because Leonard has tweeted a total of four times. Yet even so Leonard, the mysterious 6’7″ perennial NBA All-Star, has 230K followers. It’s a relatively small number for a superstar, certainly.
But 230K is a gigantic number when you consider Leonard’s four tweets in total. Everybody’s waiting for something, or just expressing their admiration for the man by signing up — just in case. So a promise to unpack Leonard’s bizarre Twitter account isn’t that hard to keep. Below are all four tweets, each of them occurring in 2015. More unpacking? Here are the mere SIX accounts that Leonard follows — and, caution, the list could break some nostalgic Spurs fans hearts.
Leonard follows fellow NBA superstar Jamal Crawford, Impact Sports, Wingstop San Antonio, the Jordan brand (@jumpman23), the Texas grocery store H-E-B and — yup — the San Antonio Spurs. (Forget the exceedingly famous James for a second and consider the very popular Jamal Crawford — he has 1.3 million followers, but Crawford has tweeted 25,200 times.)
[Note: the Leonard account has the verified blue Twitter check mark.]
This is just another example of how Kawhi Leonard does things his own way and plays by his own rules. Everybody has their own style, but it takes guts to stay true to it under pressure from agents, marketers and other forces that want more than just 27 points a game from Leonard. The beautiful quiet of Leonard’s Twitter makes a statement that’s a lot bigger than 140 characters.
One of my greatest experiences pic.twitter.com/MiuGPv5Iin
— Kawhi Leonard (@kawhileonard) January 13, 2015
Had a special guest today at the @GoAztecs Jeff Jacobs #JAMCenter. Thanks for stopping by @kawhileonard ! #AztecMBB pic.twitter.com/ma1Mjog1YC
— Go Aztecs Fac & Ops (@GoAztecsFacOps) July 7, 2015
Custom swag board #KL2 edition. Gear coming soon. pic.twitter.com/Souo2K8Z7D
— Kawhi Leonard (@kawhileonard) July 7, 2015
You don’t have to be a golfer to have fun at @topgolfsat! #golf #SanAntonio #TopgolfVIP pic.twitter.com/SoB4A54tpL
— Kawhi Leonard (@kawhileonard) April 4, 2015
