Kawhi Leonard is unhappy with the Spurs?
I never thought this day would actually come.
I was always skeptical robots would develop emotions, become unhappy and destroy the earth. But San Antonio’s All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard is apparently growing distant from the Spurs’ organization, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Michael C. Wright.
Under president and coach Gregg Popovich and general manager RC Buford, the Spurs have a two-decades-long history of strong relationships with star players, but multiple sources describe Leonard and his camp as “distant” and “disconnected” from the organization.
Beyond the current rehab for the injury that has caused Leonard, an All-NBA forward, to miss most of the regular season, there is work to be done to repair what has been until now a successful partnership.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. Future Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan almost left the Spurs once. And if it wasn’t for Doc Rivers’ weird no-family-on-the-airplane policy, Duncan would’ve joined the Orlando Magic (no, seriously, Bruce Bowen explains it all here) and never fulfilled his destiny as the greatest power forward to ever play the game of basketball in silver and black.
But I wonder what comes next. I always assumed Lamarcus Aldridge was the biggest headache for the front office, but now they have to mend a relationship with their best player? This just doesn’t sound like the Spurs. At all.
I suppose there’s more to it. Leonard’s injury has been strange and weird and it doesn’t seem like the Spurs have a firm grasp on how to handle it. That isn’t to say they don’t know what they’re doing. But injuries are tricky. Not every injury has a timetable and Leonard is obviously dealing with an extremely difficult situation.
Can the Spurs come out of it? Well, there’s no better organization I’d expect to fix the problem and put out the fire. But there is some smoke. Woj and Wright are great reporters. Time will tell on Leonard, but for now, I can enjoy the new Leonard shirsey I bought at Champ’s for $35 and then minutes after leaving the store, I saw the article I reference above.
Happy Monday, and please don’t leave us, Kawhi.
