Kawhi and San Antonio at Odds?

In the NBA, life comes at you fast.

It seems like not that long ago that Kawhi Leonard was everybody’s favorite rising star, now he appears to be on the outs with his own franchise. Once the quiet sidekick to the San Antonio Spurs longstanding triumvirate (Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili), he quickly became a household name after dueling with Lebron in the 2014 Finals and snagging the Finals MVP. He followed that up with an expanded role in the offense in the next two years, flashing the type of two-way dominance that the league hadn’t seen since prime-Kobe.

Two-time winner of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kawhi has added high-efficiency scoring to his resume in the past few years.

Last year, things got weird. He injured himself in the Western Conference Finals against the Golden State Warriors and has only played in 9 regular season games since. That was an ankle injury, now it’s a quad that’s nagging him.

ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported yesterday that the Spurs organization cleared Kawhi to play “long ago”. True or not, it shifts the public scrutiny for the absence onto Kawhi and away from the organization. Woj may be the most plugged-in reporter in the NBA, so I’m confident that when he releases information it came from a source he trusts.

Spurs coach, Gregg Popovich, claimed that he'd be "surprised" if Kawhi returns this season.

This “news” only works to exonerate the Spurs and heap blame upon Kawhi. It’s as if the Spurs are fed up with him. The issue is, he’s the franchise star, and they’re treating him in the same way that the Chicago Bulls did with Derrick Rose’s first ACL injury. They leaked to reporters that he was cleared to play and made him look bad until he returned. It was that initial release of sensitive information that soured their relationship.

I fear the same is coming for Kawhi and the Spurs. Jalen Rose hinted a few months ago at the rumors of  Kawhi’s displeasure with the franchise. Is his absence from the court a form of silent protest? Or something bigger? There is no way that Woj’s big ESPN piece on the matter will make him happier about any of this.

The Spurs have been one of the best-run organizations in sports for decades, so it is weird to consider that they could be mismanaging a star player to this degree. But this will all be sorted soon. The Spurs can begin offering Kawhi a major extension this summer, or he will have a player option to head into free agency in the Summer of 2019. Change could be coming sooner than expected in San Antonio.