NBA: AtB: The strange case of Kawhi Leonard

Welcome to Above the Break – the SPOX opinion on the NBA season! Twice a month, SPOX editor Ole Frerks closely examines a topic from the league. This time: The curious dispute between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs – and the questions of the users.

We have the long season behind us and finally reached the best time of the year – the playoffs. It’s finally back to the big picture and in fact there are already enough matchups in round one this year that are fascinating and open.

The dramatic game between Milwaukee and Boston, the disgraceful appearance of the Cavaliers and the kidnapped victory of the Pelicans in Portland already caused a lot of excitement on the first weekend. Not to mention the dominant performances of the Sixers and James Harden.

If you just go by the team names, the Warriors series against the Spurs of the delicacies of the first round should be – last year, after all, the pairing of the Western Conference Finals. For years, NBA junkies everywhere have been hoping for a series in which these two teams compete in top form.

Unfortunately, there is no such thing at the moment, just as there was last year. Stephen Curry is missing on the one hand, Kawhi Leonard on the other – a double MVP and a final MVP, two of the (depending on preference) five to seven best players of the league. However, the circumstances of these two superstars could not be more different.

While the Warriors won the first two games relatively effortlessly, Curry sat on the bench, cheered, cheered and was excited as part of the team. It is not quite clear when he can play again, but a return to the second round is likely. The Warriors are good enough to win a round without him, but they need curry to defend their title. All the more reassuring is the certainty that he will return soon.

The Spurs are different. They are not good enough to beat even weakened Warriors if their best player is missing. And they can’t expect a return either. Gregg Popovich’s statement that only “Kawhi and his camp” could say when he would be ready was significant, but the gap between the team and superstar became even clearer due to the fact that Leonard was not even in the hall.

What’s more, according to Pau Gasol, Leonard hasn’t been with his team for several weeks. And if that’s true, you have to ask yourself whether at some point you’ve reached the point where you can’t go back.

The situation is still complicated and difficult to understand, partly because Leonard says as little as possible about it in his nature. What you know: Leonard made a premature comeback in the course of the season and broke it off again after nine games, because the quadriceps still bothered him.

He received a medical approval from the Spurs months ago, but didn’t feel ready for himself. According to ESPN reporter Chris Haynes, his own medical team has not released him either. Leonard has been in New York for weeks under the supervision of his own doctors and is working on rehabilitation according to his own plan.

Even an emotional team meeting at which Leonard was reportedly begged by the team to trust the Spurs and play again did nothing to change that. Ultimately, it seems to have created even more frustration. Tony Parker recently said that his own quadriceps injury was “a hundred times worse” than that of Leonard.

Let me be clear: There’s little point in blaming Leonard for not trusting his body. Nobody knows him better than him, not even the best doctors. Of course, the Spurs would rather he bite his teeth, but it is not reprehensible that he puts his own health first. The franchise will continue to print money even after Leonard’s career is long over. You should never forget that when you feel the impulse to scold lazy millionaires.

Nevertheless, Leonard can be reproached – and that is the lack of or faulty communication. This is also supported by Popovich’s statements. Pop is not someone who wants to force players to make their comeback, as we all know he once did the exact opposite with Tim Duncan in order not to endanger his long-term career.

Rather, it seems to bother him how discreet Leonard thinks he is or how he lets others speak for him. Hence the allusions to Leonard’s “Camp” or “Group”. The trouble is obvious, as was also evident after game 2 when Pop LaMarcus praised Aldridge in the highest notes, because he is there for his team “night after night” and bites his teeth even when he is struck. This passive-aggressive behavior would have made even LeBron proud.

For a long time it seemed to outsiders that Leonard was the new Duncan, the new perfect franchise player in San Antonio. However, retired Duncan has probably participated in more team events and training sessions in recent months than his designated successor. Meanwhile, it can’t even be ruled out that Leonard has already played his last game for the Spurs.

Funny as that may sound with such a player and such a renowned franchise: Would it really be surprising if the Spurs were trading Leonard in the summer? Is it perhaps even exactly what Leonard wants to provoke with his conscious isolation? Also in this case one does not know for sure whether Kawhi really wants to leave, but there are at least clues.

Leonard, for example, broke off negotiations with Air Jordan on a new shoe contract because he felt the offer did not match his status in the league. Perhaps he associates this lack of appreciation with the small market of San Antonio – even if his categorical refusal to demonstrate something similar to a personality certainly plays a greater role in the fact that he is not an attractive advertising medium.

It’s ironic – at the moment Leonard can actually be happy about his comparatively low level of awareness. If he were Curry, Harden or even James by last name, the NBA world wouldn’t know any other topic for weeks and wouldn’t be as squeamish with him as it is today.

In any case, the Spurs could be forced to move. Leonard’s contract runs until 2019, after which he has an option, which he would not take even if everything were in the bag – he will earn more than the 21.3 million he is entitled to by option either way. For this reason, the coming season would be the last chance for San Antonio to get some value for him.

Of course, various other teams also noticed this. According to reports, the Clippers are already planning a trade package, but they won’t be the only ones by far if Kawhi becomes really available. Although Leonard has damaged his reputation, he is still an absolute superstar – one of the very few players who can actually transform a franchise because they are so individually good.

That’s why it’s likely that the Spurs will offer him the Supermax contract in the summer, which Harden and Westbrook, for example, have already signed. This would amount to five years and just under 220 million dollars and would therefore be far more lucrative than any deal he could get elsewhere.

Perhaps he will sign this premature contract extension and everything will vanish into thin air, just as Popovich has got his problems with Aldridge under control. Maybe he refuses and gets traded wherever. It seems more likely at the moment, but as with so many aspects in this mysterious saga, there is no certainty.

In the end it’s just: It’s a pity if the Spurs play against the champion in the playoffs and their best player doesn’t play. And the fact that he’s on the other side of the continent and doesn’t communicate with the team leaves a pretty bland aftertaste.

Page 1: The strange case of Kawhi Leonard

Page 2: User questions: Rose and the Wolves, the Mavs plans, Wagner and the Knicks