Hall of Famer David Robinson took umbrage to the wave of recent NBA stars who have requested trades since the era of player empowerment began, as former San Antonio Spurs forward Kawhi Leonard was one of many to go out and seek his way out of a small market franchise to join another.
Robinson, nicknamed “The Admiral” based on his prior service for the United States Navy, noted his disappointment of today's players not reveling in the challenge of building a team from scratch:
“I always appreciated when a guy was going to kind of hang in there and fight the good fight and build a team,” said Robinson, who spent all 14 years of his career with the Spurs, according to Ken Berger of Bleacher Report. “And the one thing that for me is a little disappointing is that guys don't want to take on the challenge of building a team.
It wouldn't take long for Robinson to mention Leonard, who didn't really look for a fast pass to contention, but left due to irreconcilable differences:
“We've had this run for 25 years, which has been remarkable and amazing. And then you see this thing come in with Kawhi, who wants to go to a bigger market,” said Robinson, noting the Leonard to L.A. rumors. “So it's unfortunate for a city like [San Antonio] — that wants to be competitive and has built something and really gone through all of this effort for 25 years — to lose it to this trend of players wanting to go to a bigger market.”
Leonard's tenure with the Toronto Raptors is expected to be a potential one-and-done unless the team can muster an NBA Finals appearance or a title to make the superstar wing think twice about potentially leaving for Los Angeles, or perhaps even somewhere else.
The 27-year-old Kawhi Leonard was the only star-caliber player to willingly leave San Antonio during Gregg Popovich's tenure with the team, making his departure that much more of an oddity.
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