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

[Revived]

This whole Kawhi situation is so weird. What if it doesn't actually exist? What if he actually doesn't exist anymore and both Spurs and Uncle Dennis are in on it together?

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[Edrees]

I'm legitimately stunned how anyoyne could defend Kawhi's actions after all of this.

His "group" just wants to go to a big market and Kawhi's uncle has completely taken over every aspect of his life and has made Kawhi look worse than ever. Kawhi is definitely taken advantage of, and the fact that he's a grown man who can't speak up is troubling. So his uncle does it through back channels.

And I'm legitimately stunned people will believe anything they hear with zero proof.

Both Jalen and Chris carter said it was true

Both have been dead wrong before. If someone from the spurs admits to it then ill Believe it.

[DROB27]

And I'm legitimately stunned people will believe anything they hear with zero proof.

Both Jalen and Chris carter said it was true

Both have been dead wrong before. If someone from the spurs admits to it then ill Believe it.

Bro carter has ties to Kawhi’s group.

He’s not wrong

[Cubbies2120]

And I'm legitimately stunned people will believe anything they hear with zero proof.

Both Jalen and Chris carter said it was true

Both have been dead wrong before. If someone from the spurs admits to it then ill Believe it.

Do we not remember Broussard tweeting how Cuban is going door to door looking for DJ's house or some BS

[KingFox]

just get rid of his ass. They already got a title from em, and will get more in the future when you consider the way they typically run that franchise. There's no huge loss there in the grand scheme of things. BYE

[Laker_Lenny]

People who say Kawhi should "man up" and speak for himself probably haven't dealt with situations like this themselves. I myself have my employees deal with customers so I don't have to. Similar to Kawhi, he pays others, ie agents, family, to deal with the media and such so he can focus on basketball. So this notion of speaking up for himself is ludicrous.

[knuckles862]

The difference is you are the boss so you Dont have to how would you feel if one of your employees dodged you for months?

[guitarpatch]

People who say Kawhi should "man up" and speak for himself probably haven't dealt with situations like this themselves. I myself have my employees deal with customers so I don't have to. Similar to Kawhi, he pays others, ie agents, family, to deal with the media and such so he can focus on basketball. So this notion of speaking up for himself is ludicrous.

He’s the CEO of this business. It’s on him if he wants to implement damage control

[CIN-C-STAR]

This would be the most elaborate misdirect in Spurs history over something as minor and as common as a misdiagnosis. I highly doubt the Spurs would go through trouble of lying to the media to make their medical staff look better, especially after the way the Spurs and Pop himself have admitted their faults in the past. If they didn't want to offer Kawhi the contract, they could just not offer it to him and skip the BS.

I don't think the most logical explanation in this situation would be something that's highly uncharacteristic for an organization. I think given the information we know about Kawhi's group that has come out, the legal issues, controlling uncle who wants to build a business, shady agents with peculiar relationships, rumors of a big pay day, etc. I think it's alot more likely they are behind this.

It just seems like you have to do some real mental gymnastics to think the Spurs are more likely to be at fault here given all the information we have.

Thank you.
The most logical explanation for this is not some elaborate conspiracy by the Spurs to have Kawhi misdiagnosed to drive down his market value. The Spurs have no track record of such shenanigans in decades of work, and have, in fact, paid their superstars market value and even at times over market value to reward their loyalty.
The most logical explanation is rarely an elaborate conspiracy, particularly when there are no facts to bolster the conspiracy.

Tim Duncan has never been the highest paid player when he clearly could have gone down the Kevin Garnett road and asked for the maximum.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/tim-duncan-retires-as-nbas-4th-highest-paid-player

Duncan earned more than $236 million in salary during his time in the NBA, according to Spotrac Opens a New Window. data. The highest single-season total came during the 2009-10 NBA season, when Duncan earned more than $22 million. The total could have been even higher – Duncan took a significant pay cut over his final four seasons to allow San Antonio to pursue additional talent in free agency.

Only three NBA players in history were paid more money than Duncan. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Garnett, also 40, has earned more than $326 million during his storied 21-year career. Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who also retired after the 2015-16 NBA season, earned more than $323 million. Shaquille O’Neal, the legendary center and longtime Duncan rival, ranks third with more than $286 million in career earnings.

The reason why the Spurs never had any of these issues is because Duncan never pushed the Spurs to pay him the max. He was willing to sign below market value contracts, even in his prime, to help the Spurs sign other players and stay under the luxury tax. The Spurs have been living on the Duncan gravy train for 20 years.

Do people know that after Duncan made 22 mill in 2010 his salary started going down? He went from 22 mill to 18 mill to 17 mill to 9 mill in 2013! 9 Million! What legend signs for that as a key player on the roster. He was still arguably their most valuable player.
https://www.spotrac.com/nba/san-antonio-spurs/tim-duncan-2703/cash-earnings/


Now they come up against a player who wants to get paid and it hasn't worked out so well. Even now Duncan has not come out and said anything controversial unlike Bruce Bowen who called out Kawhi......

This is just factually incorrect.
Duncan took less during the second half of his career, not during his prime.
And when Duncan took less, he was still offered the max. He was also presented with a presentation of how the team would use the money if he wanted to take less.
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news;_ylt=An..KnWd5pjy40xSGjPPnKA5nYcB?slug=jy-tim102907&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
So the Spurs weren't living off of any gravy train. They would have spent the same amount of money every season whether Duncan took less or not, they just wouldn't have been able to put as good of a roster around him. Duncan chose winning. That's not some black mark on the organization. It's actually a testament to how much trust he had in them and the positive relationship they had.
And last, Kawhi wanting to get paid has nothing to do with this. In fact, he's never played for a penny less than the maximum amount that the Spurs could offer him. If he wants to get paid, he'll get paid, just like Tony got paid ($15 million last season) and Manu got paid ($10 million the season before).
The Spurs take care of their stars. These are all just excuses for Kawhi and his camp's childish, unprofessional behavior.

[Laker_Lenny]

The difference is you are the boss so you Dont have to how would you feel if one of your employees dodged you for months?

I'm fairly certain Kawhi and/or his camp have already spoken to and let the SPURS know his intentions. He doesn't need to "man up" and answer to the media.

[CIN-C-STAR]

From kawhi point view he felt like he was being rushed so he wouldn’t get super max that he wanted from the spurs . The spurs are known for not supermaxing players .

The Spurs have literally never had a player eligible for the supermax. Kawhi isn't even technically eligible until July 16th.
This Lakers fan spin is priceless

[Ballerhogger]

From kawhi point view he felt like he was being rushed so he wouldn’t get super max that he wanted from the spurs . The spurs are known for not supermaxing players .

The Spurs have literally never had a player eligible for the supermax. Kawhi isn't even technically eligible until July 16th.
This Lakers fan spin is priceless

you know what i mean, they have never gave out top dollar before like other teams have

[CIN-C-STAR]

From kawhi point view he felt like he was being rushed so he wouldn’t get super max that he wanted from the spurs . The spurs are known for not supermaxing players .

The Spurs have literally never had a player eligible for the supermax. Kawhi isn't even technically eligible until July 16th.
This Lakers fan spin is priceless

you know what i mean, they have never gave out top dollar before like other teams have

The Spurs spend over the cap every season. They don't go into the luxury tax, but they spend right up to it usually. Not bad for a small market team. They've even lost money the last couple seasons.
I think Lakers fans are just jealous/spiteful because Duncan is a consensus better ATG than Kobe, and Pop has usurped Phil on many people's lists, too. I get it. Nothing wrong with it. Fan feelings.
But, in this case anyway, it's just not an accurate take.

[JellosJigglin]

Man has become one of my most disliked players.

Curious...what if the roles were reversed? What if he was on the Lakers, and trying to force his way to the Spurs. How would people feel about that?

I think we both know the answer to that question

Yeah, just something for people to think about

[Jedi32]

The difference is you are the boss so you Dont have to how would you feel if one of your employees dodged you for months?

Star players aren't really employees anymore. They are more like business partners. Star players are basically walking corporations and they have more power now. Now I believe he should be in contact with the spurs,but then again I've heard he actually was in contact with Pop the entire time, so I don't know what to believe.

[-Sammy-]

This thread and this issue are intriguing studies in confirmation bias; notice that nearly every Spurs fans is firmly on the side of the organization because it's the Spurs, whereas Laker fans are on the side of Kawhi because they think he's coming to their team.

That's not a call-out or an attack or criticism or anything, either (and I'm aware that not every fan on either side holds the majority view); it's just an interesting case study in how our minds tend to bend the information according to our perspective, and how from that perspective, we see things completely straight and it's the other people who are looking at it twisted. We all have access to the exact same information, but our own interests totally color how we process it. I've seen the same dynamic at work elsewhere in recent days, with major shifts in the sentiments of many Laker fans toward LeBron.

[Jedi32]

This thread and this issue are intriguing studies in confirmation bias; notice that nearly every Spurs fans is firmly on the side of the organization because it's the Spurs, whereas Laker fans are on the side of Kawhi because they think he's coming to their team.

That's not a call-out or an attack or criticism or anything, either (and I'm aware that not every fan on either side holds the majority view); it's just an interesting case study in how our minds tend to bend the information according to our perspective, and how from that perspective, we see things completely straight and it's the other people who are looking at it twisted. We all have access to the exact same information, but our own interests totally color how we process it. I've seen the same dynamic at work elsewhere in recent days, with a major shift in the sentiments of many Laker fans toward LeBron.

Just for the record I was on Kawhi's side before it was reported he wanted to come to LA.

[-Sammy-]

This thread and this issue are intriguing studies in confirmation bias; notice that nearly every Spurs fans is firmly on the side of the organization because it's the Spurs, whereas Laker fans are on the side of Kawhi because they think he's coming to their team.

That's not a call-out or an attack or criticism or anything, either (and I'm aware that not every fan on either side holds the majority view); it's just an interesting case study in how our minds tend to bend the information according to our perspective, and how from that perspective, we see things completely straight and it's the other people who are looking at it twisted. We all have access to the exact same information, but our own interests totally color how we process it. I've seen the same dynamic at work elsewhere in recent days, with a major shift in the sentiments of many Laker fans toward LeBron.

Just for the record I was on Kawhi's side before it was reported he wanted to come to LA.

Fair enough; that's an interesting sub-dynamic in itself vis-a-vis the erstwhile Spurs/Lakers rivalry (and I'm not saying that has anything to do with your viewpoint-- only that it likely plays a role in some Laker fans' opinions on the matter).

[James40]

If he leaves SA this year, he’s going to the Sixers.

[Jedi32]

The Spurs have literally never had a player eligible for the supermax. Kawhi isn't even technically eligible until July 16th.
This Lakers fan spin is priceless

you know what i mean, they have never gave out top dollar before like other teams have

The Spurs spend over the cap every season. They don't go into the luxury tax, but they spend right up to it usually. Not bad for a small market team. They've even lost money the last couple seasons.
I think Lakers fans are just jealous/spiteful because Duncan is a consensus better ATG than Kobe, and Pop has usurped Phil on many people's lists, too. I get it. Nothing wrong with it. Fan feelings.
But, in this case anyway, it's just not an accurate take.

Why have cranes when we have humans that can reach this far?