The Growing Mystery of Kawhi Leonard’s Hair

Last night, a heavily filtered image began circulating online which appeared to show San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard sporting a braidless hairdo, a dramatic change to his look since he joined the NBA in 2011. On a wild day of unforeseen shit on NBA Twitter, this was perhaps the unforeseen-est.

Pretty cut-and-dry story, right? MVP candidate cuts his trademark ‘do. No big whoop. NO! Extremely big whoop—because guess what? Someone’s claiming it’s a fake.

Looks pretty real to me. Kawhi, effusive with apathy, standing next to a guy who looks like if Messi and Ronaldo somehow merged into one tiny, perfect being. Everyone else looking gassed, and Kawhi, in his KL logo-emblazoned shirt, looking like he just finished the Sunday crossword. The only odd part of it (besides the hair) is that he seems to be embracing his fellow humans.

I asked Kawhi if he could shed some light on the situation, but I have yet to get a reply.

To be fair to Kawhi, he has not tweeted since July 7, 2015, so it might take a while.

I also contacted the Spurs organization to see if anyone there had seen Kawhi and could either confirm or deny whether his “braids are still intact.” I specifically requested that head coach Gregg Popovich comment on the situation. They did not immediately respond.

What are the Spurs and Kawhi hiding?