ESPN personality Stephen A. Smith says the San Antonio Spurs look “very bad” after Kawhi Leonard took the Toronto Raptors to the NBA Finals.
Leonard requested a trade last summer after he and his camp lost trust with the Spurs and their doctors following the quadriceps injury Kawhi dealt with last season.
Leonard only played in nine games in 2017-18. The superstar small forward was cleared by team doctors, but never felt comfortable to play again.
Leonard's uncle recently said Kawhi was in too much pain to play last season despite being cleared by team doctors and that the Spurs didn't believe him.
Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili led a players-only meeting where Spurs veterans asked Leonard if he was going to play again. Leonard was reportedly caught off guard by the meeting.
Then you have the comments made by Parker, who said his quadriceps injury was “a hundred times worse” than the ailment Leonard dealt with.
With the Raptors this season, Leonard showed the entire world he's still one of the best — if not the best — basketball players in the world. The fact that the Spurs were only able to get DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a 2019 first round pick in return for Leonard is almost laughable at this point.