Kawhi Leonard through his advisers has made it clear that he no longer wants to play for the San Antonio Spurs. The rift between Kawhi and the Spurs appear to have started over the handling of a quad injury that occurred prior to the start of the season that has forced him to sit out all but 9 games of the regular season.
Kawhi spent the majority of the rehab in New York and Spurs staffers were also on site to keep an eye on his progress. According to some Spurs staffers, Kawhi didn’t make it easy for them to monitor his status while rehabbing. Bleacher Report’s Tom Haberstroh provided comments ESPN Spurs reporter Michael C. Wright made about the situation during an appearance on the Back To Back podcast:
Kawhi and his camp appear to be willing to do whatever is necessary to have him in a different uniform sooner rather than later. Right now Kawhi is under contract for one more season and is then eligible become an unrestricted free agent in 2019. He reportedly would like to play for a Los Angeles team preferably the Lakers. The Lakers have just signed Lebron James via free agency and are looking like the early favorites to land Kawhi. We will see if the Lakers make the move for Kawhi via a trade or just wait till free agency next year.
When healthy Kawhi Leonard is easily a top 5 player and will instantly improve a team’s chances to win a championship.
Flip the page for audio of how Kawhi was hiding from Spurs.