Basketball franchise dysfunction is supposed to be the domain of teams like the Los Angeles Lakers or New York Knicks. It’s certainly not the kind of thing that the San Antonio Spurs get involved in.
However, according to Adrian Wojnarowski and Michael C. Wright at ESPN, the NBA’s most straitlaced franchise suddenly seems to have some drama on their hands. Per multiple sources, the relationship between Spurs star Kawhi Leonard and the team is “distant” and “disconnected” following months of disagreement over his rehab and timetable for return from a right quadriceps injury.
Now, not only is Leonard trying to regain his All-NBA form in time to rejoin the team before the end of the season but the two sides also apparently need to regain the trust lost from a contentious recovery process.
Spurs GM RC Buford told ESPN.com that there is no discord between the two sides and the frustrations come more a complicated rehab process.
“There is no issue between the Spurs organization and Kawhi,” Buford said. “From Day 1 all parties have worked together to find the best solutions to his injury.”
“This has been difficult for everyone,” Buford told ESPN. “It’s been difficult for Kawhi. He’s an elite-level player. It’s been difficult for the team, because they want to play with a great teammate. And it’s been difficult for our staff. Historically we’ve been able to successfully manage injuries. This rehab hasn’t been simple, and it hasn’t gone in a linear fashion.”
Leonard missed the first 27 games of the season and has only played in nine so far. He returned to the lineup on Jan. 13 and scored 19 points in 28 minutes. However, the Spurs announced that they were shutting him down indefinitely, noting that while he did not reinjure the quad, the Spurs simply wanted to err on the side of caution.
Kawhi Leonard Update: pic.twitter.com/2jb5svTAR2
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) January 17, 2018
The potential dissatisfaction between the two sides appears to be in the way that Leonard’s recovery process is taking way longer than that of Tony Parker. Parker ruptured his left quadriceps tendon in last year’s playoffs and has already returned to the lineup despite the fact that it’s a much worse injury. “We sought outside expertise with the best tendon experts in the world,” Buford told ESPN. “It worked beautifully for Tony, but it hasn’t worked the same for Kawhi.”
Earlier this year, team president and head coach Gregg Popovich voiced his concern over the way Leonard’s injury recovery was playing out in relation to Parker’s. “What’s really strange is that Tony Parker has the same injury, but even worse,” he told reporters.
As far as shutting Leonard down now, Popovich told reporters that “we didn’t feel he was ready. His confidence level wasn’t there. So we decided to give it some more time.” Perhaps that’s true, but clearly, someone isn’t happy with the way the entire process has been handled. Recovering from the injury might end up being the easy part. Recovering the relationship may or may not ever happen.
[ESPN]
