Kawhi Leonard’s uncle reveals what really happened with Spurs
The contentious relationship between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs has, quite definitively, become the Toronto Raptors’ gain.
Leonard, the two-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year, has keyed the Raptors’ charge into the NBA Finals, the first time in franchise history the team will play for the league title.
It wasn’t that long ago, however, that the 2014 NBA Finals MVP was in the midst of a messy, speculation-filled divorce with the Spurs, the team with whom he played the first six seasons of his NBA career. His final seasons in San Antonio were marred by a quad injury that Leonard and the team fought over. Leonard’s uncle Dennis Robertson finally shed some light on the specifics of a disagreement that led to a chasm between the two sides, eventually leading to his trade out of town.
“I think it just became a lack of trust,” Robertson told Yahoo Sports. “They didn’t believe Kawhi couldn’t play and that caused a lack of trust in us and then us not believing in them. Any time a player says he’s not capable of playing, you should believe him. Why would Kawhi just stop playing all of a sudden? He’s a competitor. Sometimes you get these team doctors telling you what you can and cannot do, and Kawhi was just in too much pain to get out there. This was a serious issue. They didn’t believe him, and after that, the relationship couldn’t recover and we decided we had to move on.”
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Leonard, who forced the Spurs’ hand with a trade demand, played 60 games for Toronto this season, averaging career-bests with 26.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while dishing out 3.3 assists. The Raptors (58-24) were the East’s No. 2 seed and dispatched the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and league-best Milwaukee Bucks in the postseason, with Leonard stepping up his game even further, posting 31.2 points per game with 8.8 rebounds while playing 38.7 minutes per over 18 playoff matchups.
The Spurs, meanwhile, lost in the first round in seven games to the Nuggets as the Western Conference’s No. 7 seed.
“Most people would say it’s vindication, but I’m not sure about that,” Robertson said. “But it was nice that we kept our mouths shut and just let everything play out. And for Kawhi, to take all the negative press he received and to focus on taking the East and to taking each series game by game, it’s a big deal. Making it to the Finals is a big deal. This is a team that has never been to the Finals and we’re happy about that. It feels good with what we went through last year. We have to be happy. He said it best with all the work he’s put into his craft: He’s ready for this moment. What he accomplished was amazing. That’s what stars do. How he’s handled everything on and off the court is well deserved. It was nice to see him fight through all the adversity and he’s earned every minute of this.”
Much like the upcoming free agency of Golden State studs Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, Leonard’s future is once again up in the air as a rising free agent — who’s been heavily linked to the Clippers — but he’s concentrating on the opportunity to win a second championship, according to his uncle.
“We have a championship opportunity in front of us,” Robertson said. “We’re not thinking about free agency; it’s the Warriors [right now]. Once we get through the season, we’ll turn our attention to free agency. But we’re just having fun right now. This has been a great year.”
