What is Going on with Kawhi Leonard?

By Nick Kazandjian

There has been a lot of controversy swirling around the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard.  Leonard, former NBA Finals MVP, has only appeared in 9 of the teams 82 games last playing on January 13th.  Kawhi suffered a quad injury that has been plaguing him all season long. Or has it? Leonard is not even on the bench rooting on his teammates he is rehabbing in New York where HIS medical team is located.  He is not training with team doctors and instead is waiting for clearance from his medical staff. A report just yesterday mentioned that Kawhi will go weeks without answering any texts or calls from San Antonio and is essentially rogue.  The problem exists that the Spurs have a legitimate shot to defeat a Curryless Golden State Warriors team if their star player would be able to take the court. So why hasn’t he?

While I don’t believe the Spurs would trade Kawhi, I’d like to know what is causing a rift between Popovich and the Spurs vs Kawhi.  I believe that Kawhi is being very particular about things and is sticking with his trusted group rather than go through the team facilities and be supporting the team especially if he has a chance to return.  We have seen this before as Bill Belichick has done this with several players going to train at TB12 rather than train with the team medical staff.

Things like this cause problems because as a star player the team is expecting a lot from you and for you to 1. Not train with the team, 2. Not be on the bench supporting your team, and 3. Not return under your own terms really can cause the rift.  This is something extremely uncommon in the NBA and something that is really interesting to look into. Gregg Popovich was asked about Kawhi’s status for Game 1 he said, “You’ll have to ask Kawhi and his group that question.” By this quote you can tell Pop is very upset since he hardly is very vocal with the media and he again is referring to HIS group thus creating a divide between Kawhi and the organization.

I am sure teams will be prepared to make offers for Kawhi and it could get interesting this summer with that in play. I don’t understand why this divide has happened but it is a problem and the Spurs have to fix it. Kawhi needs to get back on the court for San Antonio and since it’s not going to happen this season, he better be ready for next season DAY 1.