Toronto Raptors star small forward Kawhi Leonard makes his much-anticipated return to San Antonio on Thursday, and Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is hoping the home fans treat Leonard with kindness.
Kawhi Leonard spent the first seven years of his NBA career with the Spurs, but his final season in San Antonio was a disaster. The two-time All-Star played in only nine games due to a quadriceps injury and eventually requested a trade in the offseason.
Despite what transpired last year, though, Gregg Popovich is holding out hope that Leonard won't be booed by the fans.
Will Kawhi get booed?
Pop: "I don’t speak for other people, but I hope that they treat everybody with kindness and respect. We always have in the past, so we’ll see."— Michael Grange (@michaelgrange) January 2, 2019
Popovich isn't going to get his wish. The fans in San Antonio are going to boo Leonard the entire game. The fans believe Leonard quit on the team. He was cleared by doctors to play, but Leonard was never cleared by his camp to return to the court and was away from the franchise for much of the season rehabbing his injury in New York.
Leonard won two Defensive Player of the Year awards with the Spurs and was the the 2014 Finals MVP. He was supposed to be the next franchise player after Tim Duncan retired. Things just didn't work out that way.
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