Kawhi Leonard's Jersey to be Retired Feb. 1
Leonard will become the first player in program history to have his jersey retired in the Viejas Arena rafters.
Kawhi Leonard, who helped usher the San Diego State University men's basketball program into a new era of national prominence, will be honored by the university on Saturday, Feb. 1, as his jersey is retired.
Leonard now in his first season with the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, will become the first player in program history to have his jersey hanging in Viejas Arena. He is scheduled to attend the ceremony, which will include two-time national coach of the year Steve Fisher, during a sold-out home game against Utah State.
All fans in attendance will receive a free commemorative Kawhi Leonard t-shirt.
Leonard played two seasons at SDSU, 2009-10 and 2010-11, the year the team set a school record with 20 consecutive wins to open its season. He guided the Aztecs to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances, two Mountain West Conference championships and the school's first Division I NCAA tournament victories en route to SDSU’s first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 2011.
A starter in 69 of the 70 games he played, Leonard is one of just three Aztecs in the 99-year history of the program to average a double-double for his career. He earned second-team All-America honors as a sophomore, finishing his storied collegiate career with 990 points (14.1 points per game), 716 rebounds (10.2 rebounds per game), 156 assists, 98 steals and 45 blocked shots.
In each of his two seasons at SDSU, Leonard led the team in scoring average (12.7 and 15.5 points per game), free-throw percentage (.726 and .759) and rebounding average (9.9 and 10.6). His 10.6 rebounds per game as a sophomore in 2010-11 ranked ninth in the nation. He also led the Aztecs in steals per game (1.4) in 2010-11.
As a freshman in 2009-10, Leonard was the Mountain West Freshman of the Year, a first-team All-MW performer and a three-time MW Player of the Week honoree.
During his final year in an Aztec uniform in 2010-11, Leonard received second-team All-America honors by the Associated Press, The Sporting News, FoxSports.com and the Wooden Award. In addition, the Mountain West honored him with first-team all-league and all-defensive team awards, as well as two player of the week accolades.
Leonard was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 15th pick in the 2011 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft but was traded to the San Antonio Spurs on draft day. In his first season in the league, he was a member of the NBA All-Rookie First Team and in subsequent years has won two NBA Championships with the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and Toronto Raptors in 2019, capturing the NBA Finals MVP award in each of those seasons. Leonard, who joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and LeBron James as the only players in NBA history to win the NBA Finals MVP with two different teams, is also a three-time NBA All-Star, a three-time member of the All-Defensive Team and a two-time Defensive Player of the Year.
In 2016, Leonard was inducted into the Aztec Athletics Hall of Fame. Late last year, Leonard was voted The Associated Press' male athlete of the year for 2019, becoming the fifth NBA player in history to win the award.
Kawhi Leonard at SDSU Kawhi Leonard will become the first player in program history to have his jersey retired in the Viejas Arena rafters. (Photos: GoAztecs.com)
