The name of the player has become synonymous with defensive playmaking.
He no longer wants to be referred to as that.
Most people in Leonard's life refer to him as "Shazuille", and Leonard asked reporters to call him that when he reported to training camp.
Leonard said that he went by the name of Shaquille his entire life. My friends and family called me Shaquille, I was called that by many people. If I was in trouble, I went by a different name. When I got to the NFL, people began to call me. I thought they didn't want a rookies to say to him a different name. I just followed it.
Leonard didn't talk about his wishes after he won the defensive rookies of the year award. He finally made his position known as he began his fifth season.
Leonard said that Randy Moss told him the best advice he could give was to keep his mouth shut. I came in and did my job. I wanted to be treated the same as everyone else. That is my name, if they called me that. It was just what I went by. I wanted to not cause any problems.
I don't like being called Darius. I understand that it's going to be difficult, but I would like to be called 'D' or 'Maniac' instead of 'Ida'.
Leonard had back surgery in June and is not able to perform. He explained that two disks in his back were causing lower-leg pain because they were impinging on two nerves. Leonard said that the team had been looking for the source of the pain before finding the nerve issue.
Leonard had ankle surgery in the off-season of 2021. Leonard was forced to play hurt when the pain persisted.
He is feeling relieved and optimistic about the outcome.
Leonard said that they would be ready to rock and roll after finding the source of the problem.
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