Kawhi Leonard’s comments re-open old wounds for the San Antonio Spurs

Prior to the Los Angeles Clippers’ season-opening win against the Los Angeles Lakers, Clippers star Kawhi Leonard was asked about his road to recovery. He had this to say after missing all of last season with a partial ACL tear:

To fans who don’t know the backstory of his falling out with the San Antonio Spurs, it’s easy to brush those comments off. However, to Spurs fans, it has to add insult to injury that Leonard is misremembering the events of what happened since he was to blame for how things ended with the team. That unnecessary cheapshot underscores that he still feels animosity about how things ended too, even though he ultimately got everything that he wanted.

Kawhi Leonard ghosted his way off of the San Antonio Spurs.

After losing in controversial fashion in the 2017 Western Conference Finals, Kawhi Leonard spent the offseason rehabbing a stubborn injury that was slow to heal. The Spurs took the unusual step of giving Leonard and his team complete control over his rehab. They quickly came to regret that decision. Leonard missed the preseason and the first 15 games of the regular season while providing the team with little to no updates.

Coach Gregg Popovich was asked for an update on the status of his then-superstar, and he stated “you’ll have to ask his group.” But while many interpreted his comments as him being his normal aloof self, it was actually an honest answer. He didn’t know what was going on with Leonard, and the team didn’t either. Leonard did eventually play, before being shut down again after nine games.

Leonard then headed to New York to work out on his own, away from the team, avoiding texts and not returning calls from the Spurs. More infamously, Spurs officials flew to New York to meet with Leonard in person, but he ducked them while members of his team dealt with Spurs officials.

After an unflattering article by Ramona Shelburne, Leonard returned to the team and mentioned that he wanted to retire as a Spur. He never played for the team again. He blamed the team for misdiagnosing his injury. However, the Spurs did correctly diagnose that he had tendinopathy and responded by not playing him in back-to-back games and slowly trying to bring him along before he was shut down.

Kawhi Leonard bullied his way to Los Angeles.

In the offseason, he demanded a trade and reportedly considered sitting out an entire season if the team didn’t trade him to Los Angeles. The Spurs responded to those threats by shipping him to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and the first-round pick that became rising star, Keldon Johnson.

Leonard spent a season there, and the Raptors took the same approach to dealing with his injury. To Leonard’s credit, he led them to a championship in his only season with the team, but he signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in the summer of 2019. Things haven’t exactly gone according to plan since then.

Now, after returning to the court after a year away, he’s taking shots at both of his former teams who were just looking out for his health. This is also incredibly ironic considering he was also at odds with the Clippers’ training staff during the 2021 playoffs. That’s three teams and three training staffs that he’s been at odds with. Maybe it’s him.

Ultimately, Leonard got what he wanted but left two teams in his wake. The San Antonio Spurs are beginning to pick up the pieces and have several promising players and plenty of assets. Still, Leonard’s comments had to have re-opened old wounds for the San Antonio Spurs.