During this past season, there was a lot of talk about former All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge's unhappiness with his situation in the San Antonio Spurs.

In a recent interview with Michael C. Wright of ESPN, Aldridge revealed that he initially had some uneasy feelings about his decreased offensive responsibility.

“It was me kind of being blunt about it, and being kind of forward,” Aldridge recently told ESPN during training camp. “He was open to it. I kind of just spilled my heart about how I felt about how things were, and how things had been going.

“I think he was kind of caught off guard. I don't think he really had noticed [that I was unhappy]. But once I said it, he was great about listening, and it was good from there. I felt like I wasn't really fitting into the system as best I could. I wasn't really helping like I felt I could.”

LaMarcus Aldridge
Soobum Im/USA TODAY Sports

Aldridge went on to discuss how he was even unmotivated to run the floor at times.

“It was an afterthought [to get me the ball early]. But it was both [probably my fault and the team's] because I didn't feel like I would get it,” Aldridge said. “So I probably didn't run the floor as hard, or I didn't seal as good. Then, they didn't look for me. Then, when we both thought about it, it was too late.

“But this year, knowing that it's going to be a point of emphasis, I'm going to run harder. I'm going to duck in harder, and they're going to look for me faster. So it's going to be better.”

In his first two seasons with the Spurs, Aldridge has taken up a secondary scoring role that has seen a noticeable drop in production as he's averaging 17.6 points and 7.9 rebounds. He also saw a decline in his offensive output posting career-lows with 16.5 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks in 16 games.

This is a significant drop off from the final two playoff trips with the Portland Trail Blazers where he averaged 24.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks. All of this led to his name being tossed around prior to the draft as a trade piece to acquire additional picks, but nothing truly came about from it.

Aldridge has an opportunity to bounce back in the 2017-18 campaign, especially to begin the year with both Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard dealing with injuries. He has one more guaranteed year left on his deal worth $21.4 million and holds a $22.3 million player option for the 2018-19 season.