As the drama between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs played out this past season Gregg Popovich expressed confusion over the lack of communication between Leonard’s side and the Spurs in regards to the rehabilitation process of the All-NBA forward’s quad injury.
“I don’t know when he and his group are going to feel like they are ready to go,” Popovich told the San Antonio Express-News back in April. “If I knew, he’d be here. When he and his group feel he’s ready, then he’ll be ready.”
As it turns out it seems that Leonard and his group never felt like he was ready and were probably never going to.
Speaking on Bleacher Report’s Back To Back podcast hosted by Tom Haberstroh Thursday, ESPN Spurs reporter Michael Wright revealed a bizarre story that involved Leonard’s representatives hiding him from Spurs executives.
“I probably shouldn’t say this right now but I’m gonna say it because Kawhi is gonna be outta there, I think,” Wright told Haberstroh. “There was a point during his rehab process in New York that some of the Spurs brass went out to see him in New York. As soon as those guys arrived to the building Kawhi’s people grabbed him and sequestered him to another part of the building. So the Spurs people couldn’t even see him.”
The 26-year-old Leonard played just nine games this past season, plagued by injury. A right quadriceps injury, that saw him miss the first 27 games of the season, ultimately flared back up and saw him miss almost the entire 2017-18 campaign,and was also the apparent catalyst of the rift that has formed between him and the Spurs organization.
Midway through last season, after rehabbing his injury, Leonard was cleared to play by the Spurs medical staff, but he insisted on a second opinion from his own doctors and ended up spending the all-star break consulting a specialist and rehabbing further ultimately leading him to missing almost the entire Spurs season, including the playoffs.
In the aftermath of this all, Leonard has reportedly requested to be traded, with the Los Angeles Lakers being his No. 1 destination.
As evidenced by Wright’s story, it certainly seems as if the relationship between Leonard and the Spurs had already reached the point of no return midway through last season and all that’s left to now is for both parties to work out a way to go their separate ways.
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