Kawhi Leonard’s fall out with the San Antonio Spurs has been one of the most controversial NBA topics this season. The Spurs star Small Forward injured his right quad in last seasons playoffs and it was announced on September 30th that Leonard would miss a good deal of the preseason to rehab his thigh. Two weeks later the Spurs announced he would miss the season opener and there was no timetable for his return. November arrived and Spurs Head Coach Greg Popovich said Leonard was going “In the right direction”. On December 12th Leonard finally made his return and would play games spaced out every few days, but he ended up playing a total of just nine games this season. In those nine games he averaged 16.2 PPG, 2.3 APG, and 4.7 RPG. When asked if he thought Leonard would be rejoining the team by the post season, “You’ll have to ask Kawhi and his group that question,” Popovich said. Kawhi stayed in New York to continue his rehab and work towards being healthy again. It was reported that he was improving and could be back for the postseason, but Leonard never returned. The Spurs season officially ended after being easy work for the Golden State Warriors in the first round. More information and rumors have been going around for awhile now and one of the most surprising reports was that part of the reason Kawhi never returned was due to having friction with the Spurs and Head Coach Greg Popovich. The Spurs are going to be having a sit down meeting with Leonard this off-season to figure out if he still wants to play for them. Nobody really knows what Kawhi wants to do but odds are he will be on a new team next season. Some possible landing spots for Kawhi are the Milwaukee Bucks, Philadelphia 76ers, Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Phoenix Suns. This years off-season is going to be very interesting. Behind LeBron James, Kawhi will be the most talked about player that could be wearing a new uniform next season.
Dylan Devine / May 8th 2018