Clippers’ Leonard AP’s male athlete of year
He was the Fun Guy. The board man who got paid. He overcame injury to reclaim his rightful place as one of the very best basketball players on the planet. He conquered the NBA world for a second time, bringing a championship to Canada. And then he joined the Los Angeles Clippers, ready to start anew. “What it do, baby?”
For Kawhi Leonard in 2019, there finally is an answer to his infamous question: He did everything, without talking much.
Leonard is The Associated Press’ male athlete of the year for 2019, comfortably winning a vote by AP member sports editors and AP beat writers. He becomes the fifth NBA player to win the award, joining Larry Bird (1986), threetime recipient Michael Jordan (1991-93), three-time recipient LeBron James (2013, 2016, 2018) and Stephen Curry (2015). The award has been made annually since 1931, and Simone Biles was announced Thursday as the women’s recipient for 2019.
Leonard was the NBA Finals MVP for the second time, leading Toronto to its first championship — five years after he first smudged his fingerprints on both trophies with the San Antonio Spurs. He wound up leaving the Raptors in the summer for the Clippers, returning to his native Southern California and turning the historically woeful franchise into one of the top teams in the league.
He received more than twice as many points in the balloting as any of the other 18 vote-getters. Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was second, followed by Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Bucks
Giannis Antetokounmpo sat out Milwaukee’s game Friday night at Atlantabecause of back soreness.
Coach Mike Budenholzer ruled out Antetokounmpo, last season’s NBA MVP and the second-leading scorer this season, before league-leading Milwaukee faced the Hawks.
“His back is something I guess would be in that category of something we manage and keep our eyes on, and sometimes it flares up,” Budenholzer said. “Today it’s enough that he can’t play. But you’re hopeful that it’s not anything significant even though it is something that we kind of monitor on a regular basis.”
Ersan Ilyasova started in Antetokounmpo’s spot. It was too early to tell if Antetokounmpo also will sit out Saturday at Orlando.
Antetokounmpo was favoring his back while scoring 18 points and getting 14 rebounds in a loss Wednesday night at Philadelphia, but Budenholzer said the decision to hold him out was mostly precautionary.
“Except for that he’s out tonight, I think he’s been doing really well,” Budenholzer said. “I think he’s felt good and looked strong just even to kind of to the general eye test.”
Antetokounmpo is averaging 30.1 points and 12.9 rebounds.
The Bucks beat the Hawks, 112-86. Milwaukee leads the NBA with a 28-5 record.
Hawks
Guard Trae Young had to be helped off the floor and was ruled out for the rest of the game after his right ankle was sprained late in the second quarter Friday night in the Milwaukee game. Young was dribbling when he went down in the lane. He wasn’t able to put much weight on his right leg while he was helped to the sideline.