Kawhi Leonard Named the Overall Hickok Belt® Award Winner for 2019

ROCHESTER, NY – A panel of National Sports Media Association (NSMA) voters has chosen Kawhi Leonard as the Hickok Belt® Award winner for 2019. The voters selected the 6 foot 7 basketball superstar, after he led his former team, the Toronto Raptors, to their first NBA championship crown, destroying the Golden State Warriors, four games to two. Kawhi, nicknamed the “Claw,” for his defensive ball hawking prowess, won the NBA’s MVP for the second time. He joins the NBA’s greatest superstars, LeBron James and the legendary Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the third player ever to win the NBA Finals MVP with two teams. Kawhi has earned five All-Defensive team selections and won the NBA defensive player of the year award in 2015 and 2016. He scored an amazing 732 points in the playoffs, third only to the world-famous number one Michael Jordan (759) and LeBron James (748). Shortly after his Championship victory, Kawhi left the Raptors and signed a $103 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. It is appropriate that Kawhi won the 2019 Hickok Belt® Award and was compared to the NBA’s greatest megastars, Michael Jordan and LeBron James.

“On behalf of the NSMA, I’d like to congratulate Kawhi Leonard on an amazing year,” said Dave Goren, Executive Director. “While you couldn’t go wrong with any of the finalists, Kawhi Leonard capped an outstanding season with an NBA Finals show that put him among the pantheon of clutch performers.”

Other finalists for the award included each of the 2019 Hickok Belt® Award monthly winners, which finished in the following order, based on the NSMA voting: Stephen Strasburg (baseball), Lamar Jackson (football), Tiger Woods (golf), Brooks Koepka (golf), Novak Djokovic (tennis), Tom Brady (football), Gerrit Cole (baseball), Rory McIlroy (golf), and Jimmy Garoppolo (football).

Kawhi Leonard’s selection recognizes him as the “best of the best” across all professional sports in 2019.

Tony Liccione, of the Hickok Belt® Award, said in a statement “Kawhi Leonard is a perfect example of what the Hickok Belt® Award stands for.” “It is only fitting, after playing the incredible way he did in the 2019 season, that he be included to a long line of Hickok Belt® Award Champions.”

To learn more about the Hickok Belt® Award and its rich history, please visit www.hickokbelt.com.

News Media: For more information, contact Tony Liccione at 585-964-3077 or info@hickokbelt.com.