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In a report published by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Michael C. Wright earlier today, news surfaced that Kawhi Leonard's relationship with the San Antonio Spurs was taking a hit. The story said:
“Months of discord centering on elements of treatment, rehabilitation and timetables for return from a right quadriceps injury have had a chilling impact on San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard's relationship with the franchise and coaching staff… multiple sources describe Leonard and his camp as ‘distant' and ‘disconnected' from the organization.”
Leonard's cousin, Dennis Robertson, spoke to San Antonio Express-News and said the reported rift was fake:
Article Continues Below“There is nothing true to that story. Kawhi's camp and the Spurs are how they've always been – doing the right thing for the team and the right thing for Kawhi.”
Those comments are right in line with Spurs general manager RC Bufford's. In the original ESPN story, Bufford was quoted denying those reports:
“There is no issue between the Spurs organization and Kawhi. From Day 1 all parties have worked together to find the best solutions to his injury.”
Kawhi's situation should certainly be frustrating. Last May, he left game one of the Spurs' Western Conference Finals matchup against the Golden State Warriors after aggravating an ankle injury. That ended his season and the Spurs got swept in four games. Before the start of the 2017 regular season, the Spurs announced Leonard was suffering from right quadriceps tendinopathy. The injury was not supposed to take this long to heal, but it has. After playing nine games in limited minutes this season, Leonard was again shut down indefinitely.
It is weird how Tony Parker suffered the same injury, but to a worse degree, and still recovered faster than Leonard. Bufford said: “We sought outside expertise with the best tendon experts in the world. It worked beautifully for Tony [Parker], but it hasn't worked the same for Kawhi.”
