Official 2013-14 NBA Thread

D0wn wrote: »

I was about to say Kawhi is autistic.
Then I remember,





The memories Kawhi Leonard had of the car wash were ones of fondness, learning the business alongside his father

It was a chance to spend quality time with Mark Leonard — the person who had bestowed his unique first name,



The call came from his sister on Jan. 18, 2008, exactly three years ago while he was in the car returning from a high school basketball game.

"She said that our dad died,”
"I felt like the world stopped.”

Mark Leonard was 43 when he was shot and killed at the same car wash in which so many memories were shared.

"I didn’t want to believe it," Kawhi said. "It didn’t feel real to me.”


"After the game, he just broke down,” said his mother, Kim Robertson. "They were close. Very close.”

Leonard grew up living primarily with his mother, spent plenty of time, especially in the summers, with his father, who lived about an hour away and owned that car wash in Compton


Leonard does think about it. His eyes light up when recalling the times he’d help his father open the 100-percent hand-wash car wash at 8 a.m. and scrub until it closed around 6 p.m.

"It was hard work,” Leonard said. "But I loved it.”

He smiles when thinking about how the two would jump over the fence in the backyard and run up and down a hill in Moreno Valley for 30 minutes straight. They’d go out and throw the football and also take to the basketball court together.