According to information from Adrian Wojnarowski, the San Antonio Spurs players held an emotional team-internal meeting to discuss the difficult injury situation of Kawhi Leonard and the rumours of his return, which had already been postponed several times.
The ESPN man reports that in the Players Only meeting some players “begged” Kawhi to return to the floor and support the Spurs in the fight for the playoffs. Following last Saturday’s victory over Minnesota Timberwolves, Tony Parker called the meeting and asked the team’s officials and coaches to leave the room.
According to Wojnarowski, the meeting had been very intense, according to which some players had expressed their frustration at Leonard’s opaque injury situation. According to reports, it even became noisy in the cabin in the meantime.
Other sources report that Leonard defended himself and told his teammates that he was only planning to return if he felt ready to do so. However, it is unclear whether this meeting really took place like this. Shortly after Wojnarowski’s report was published, Danny Green and Brandon Paul spoke via Twitter and denied the rumours.
Leonard has only played nine games this season (16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds). He is suffering from an injury on the quadriceps, which proves to be extremely tough and complicated. After a short comeback in January Leonard paused again, rumors about a comeback have always been shattered.
Manu Gibobili also recently expressed frustration at the situation. The Argentinian told the media that he no longer expects Kawhi to appear in the Spurs jersey again this season.