Everybody in the NBA, no matter how good they are, gets trash talked. Lance Stephenson blew in NBA superstar LeBron James‘s ear for goodness sake, when he wasn’t jabbing at the King with his tongue. Chris Paul, Stephenson, Joel Embiid — a whole bunch of NBA stars make it known that trash talking is part of their arsenal.
Kawhi on how he responds to trash talking from opponents: “It really doesn’t happen too much.” #NBAFinals pic.twitter.com/OK0jo8W6oA
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) June 1, 2019
Trash talkers claim they get into other players heads with trash talk and upset their focus, their balance, their concentration. Unless, of course, you’re the Toronto Raptors imperturbable superstar Kawhi Leonard. Then players don’t even try to talk trash. Maybe they just know it won’t work. The truth about trash talk — that it’s everywhere on every play — just doesn’t apply to Kawhi Leonard.
Asked about how he responds to trash talk, Leonard admits it never happens to him. “It really doesn’t happen too much,” he said. Then Leonard revealed the real truth: “I really can’t say it happens.” That’s right: nobody ever talks trash to Leonard — at all.
