Kawhi Leonard Reportedly Hidden from Spurs Staffers in NY During Injury Rehab

[Rust_Cohle]

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2784689-kawhi-leonard-reportedly-hidden-from-spurs-staffers-in-ny-during-injury-rehab?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=programming-national

Summary via someone from Reddit:


Here's my quick write up from the full podcast for those that don't want to listen to the whole hour and 15 minutes.

At the All Star game in NO a few years ago Kawhi and his group are at a hotel and the Spurs security tells them what time they need to get them out to get them to the game on time. Uncle Dennis says "no we're not doing this, this is when we're going to leave". They decide to leave when Uncle Dennis says and they end up stuck in traffic a block away from the hotel. The police end up letting them through but it would take them an hour and a half to get to the arena. They ended up having Kawhi get out, put a hood over his head, and walk to the Arena from the hotel.



Uncle Dennis thinks the Spurs are too controlling but he doesn't have any experience representing any other players from any other teams.



Spurs gave Kawhi and his camp complete control of his "rehab" starting August 8th. The rehab was controlled by his own doctors although Wright does not know if he really did shop around for a bunch of doctors or not. Spurs had absolutely no say in his rehab process at all which is why Pop would refer reporters to Kawhi's group when asked questions about his status.



Wright thinks the Spurs were too accommodating to Kawhi and his group which is why all of this has happened. Says Kawhi realized he was a star in the league and wanted to be treated as such. In the words of Wright "Spurs gave him an inch and Kawhi took a mile".



If Spurs offer supermax he thinks he would re-sign (because $$$ talks) but at this point the Spurs probably don't trust the people around Leonard enough to offer up that amount of money (would be 30% of their Cap). (This leads me to believe that the rumors about the Spurs not offering the supermax are true.)



The Spurs have told Wright that they want to get Kawhi in a room ALONE. No Dennis, no one else speaking for him. Just Kawhi.



The Spurs would get a call from Uncle Dennis saying "Kawhi wants this and that" but the Spurs would never know if it was really Kawhi's wishes or his Uncles.



The Spurs don't believe that his Uncle has his best interest at heart but know that his Uncle means a lot to him due to the fact that he was there for him after his father was murdered.



Wright did not write the story about Parkers comments because he knew exactly that it would be taken out of context as soon as he said it. He says the reports about Kawhi being betrayed by Tony's comments are excuses coming from his Uncle.



The reason Kawhis teammates were frustrated and called a team meeting was because Kawhi's group kept throwing out return dates which would come and go. Eventually the team got fed up and confronted him about all the pump faking. Manu's comments a week or so before the team meeting seems to confirm that the team knew they were getting hit with the Okie Doke by Kawhi's group.



Kawhi told them he would be back for the game against NO on March 19th which was picture day. Kawhi showed up for pictures but as soon as they started pre game shoot around he left. That night after the game they had the team meeting and two days later Kawhi left for NY and never came back to the team.



Up to the point before the trade request in June Wright talked to multiple people in the organisation who were confident they could get Pop to sit down with Kawhi and iron everything out. The death of Pop's wife complicated things and it took a while for him to get the meeting with Kawhi. Kawhi didn't want to meet with Pop and did everything he would to avoid the meeting. At that point the trade request news came out.



Kawhi's side feels like Spurs are leaking info that makes him look bad. Wright thinks those are excuses and that he just doesn't want to play in San Antonio. He doesn't see a good ending for either side here.



Wright says people think he's exaggerating about Uncle Dennis but some of the things that he requests/demands are unrealistic. According to him some of the stories are hard to believe and he laughs when he thinks about them. (I should note that Jeff McDonald, another Spurs beat writer has compared Uncle Dennis to Lavar Ball).



Kawhi doesn't want to go to the Lakers. His preferred destination is the Clippers but the Clippers have absolutely no assets that the Spurs want. He expects a dark horse team to come in and nab Kawhi in a trade.



He does not see Kawhi handling the LA media scene very well. Says he was well protected from the media in San Antonio and doesn't think he is ready for an environment like that.


TL;DR: Uncle Dennis is literally Lavar Ball

[obiwanginobili]

Kill me

[XxIronChainzxX]

I'm just imagining Kawhi hiding behind a potted plant in a doctor's office.

[woosah]

Sheesh need a Spurs Mega thread too. Hard to follow the same convo in like 5 threads

[Red_Bird]

If this is true...I've lost all my respect for Kawhi.

It's a shame too, as he was such a great player to watch.

[Revived]

Sheesh need a Spurs Mega thread too. Hard to follow the same convo in like 5 threads

Mega threads are only for big market teams.

[woosah]

Sheesh need a Spurs Mega thread too. Hard to follow the same convo in like 5 threads

Mega threads are only for big market teams.

HA!!

[RunSunRun]

Quitter and a coward, no wonder he doesn't get along with Pop

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

This Kawhi thing needs to get resolved one way or another. Sheesh.

[dorkestra]

I highly doubt he was "hiding"

[LeoBrooklyn]

Could they just trade him already this is getting tiresome.

[Ballings7]

One of the very, very few, if not the only, legitimate accounts of Kawhi-gate. Along with Danny Green's interview in late May.

Can't say for sure how things have been the last 2 weeks, still, is the problem. No legitimacy there as of yet.

All kinds of crap.

[zimpy27]

This makes no sense. If Kawhi wanted to go back then, then he could have just said he wanted to leave like he is saying now.

I believe spurs are spreading this to suggest their medical staff didn't mess up and the whole medical issues in NY were just a ruse.

The most logical explanation to all of this is that the spurs organisation mishandled kawhis medical condition either by accident or on purpose to not pay him a big pay salary.

[Higgs Boston]

[DROB27]

This makes no sense. If Kawhi wanted to go back then, then he could have just said he wanted to leave like he is saying now.

I believe spurs are spreading this to suggest their medical staff didn't mess up and the whole medical issues in NY were just a ruse.

He wanted the super max

[TaylorTRoom]

As Fred Akers said in the 30 on 30 about Marcus DuPree - “there’s always an uncle”.

[JellosJigglin]

I'm just ready for all this to end already. Don't even care where he ends up.

[zimpy27]

This makes no sense. If Kawhi wanted to go back then, then he could have just said he wanted to leave like he is saying now.i

I believe spurs are spreading this to suggest their medical staff didn't mess up and the whole medical issues in NY were just a ruse.

He wanted the super max

Yes and I don't think spurs were going to not give him the Supermax. They wanted to retain him for less.

I believe their motive to pay Supermax is what created the distrust between the two groups. Kawhis group realised he wasn't getting Supermax so they decided to ensure kawhi was 100% healthy as a priority.

I think it's possible that spurs rushed him back to show he wasn't the player he was and reduce his value.

[Revived]

Almost every single "quiet and humble" athlete have turned into huge drama queens. Rose, Durant, Kawhi and I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of others.

All the quiet ones are the most dangerous ones. Idk who's next, maybe Anthony Davis?

[BullyKing]

And the price keeps falling...