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Former San Antonio Spurs superstar forward Kawhi Leonard played seven seasons with the Spurs from 2011 to 2018, winning one title in 2014. Throughout most of his Spurs tenure, Leonard appeared to be a player who would be a Spur for life. However, in 2018 Leonard ended up requesting a trade from the franchise following concerns they were mismanaging his quad injury.
Leonard played in just nine games during the 2017-2018 regular season due to his quad injury, which was labeled as right thigh tendinopathy. However, this was not entirely due to the advice of the Spurs’ team medical staff as they actually cleared Leonard to play much earlier. Leonard did not feel ready to play, though, so he sought a second opinion on his injury and was advised to continue his rehab.
This disconnect between San Antonio’s medical staff and Leonard’s outside advisors led to increased tension between Leonard and the Spurs. The Spurs front office, coaching staff and players eventually grew tired of waiting for Leonard to return from his seemingly mysterious injury.
The presence of Leonard’s uncle, Dennis Robertson, AKA “Uncle Dennis,” as his main advisor seemingly pulling the strings also rubbed many the wrong way. Many believed Uncle Dennis was secretly trying to maneuver Leonard out of San Antonio by forcing the Spurs’ hand in a trade.
Reports of San Antonio’s frustrations then became known to the public, which led to Leonard forcing his way out of San Antonio. On June 15, 2018, Leonard made an official trade request.
Shams Charania summed up Leonard’s mindset at the time in a piece for Yahoo Sports.
“Leonard has become uncomfortable with any future with the Spurs — because of overall mistrust stemming from the organization’s handling of his quadriceps injury during the past year — and is prepared to move on immediately,” Charania said.
Kawhi Leonard wanted to be traded to his home state of California. So, the LA Lakers were reportedly at the very top of his preferred trade destinations, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
Other teams, including the Boston Celtics, were also rumored to be interested in acquiring Leonard.
However, Leonard only had one year left on his deal at the time, so he could leave any team that traded for him after one season. This severely limited the Spurs’ leverage in any potential deals. This was especially true in regard to teams like the Lakers who figured they could just wait and sign Leonard in free agency.
The Toronto Raptors then famously emerged as a dark horse candidate to land Leonard. This came as the Raptors were coming off a second-round sweep at the hands of LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers in the 2018 playoffs. So the Raptors, who were on the verge of a rebuild, decided to take a risk and trade for Leonard as a one-year rental.
On July 18, 2018, Toronto traded All-Star shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, alongside young big man Jakob Poeltl and a protected 2019 first-round pick to the Spurs. In exchange, Toronto received both Kawhi Leonard and veteran sharpshooter Danny Green.
It wasn’t his preferred destination, but in his lone season in Toronto, Kawhi Leonard led the Raptors to their first NBA championship. This came after they defeated the Golden State Warriors 4-2 in the 2019 NBA Finals. Leonard then got his wish to play in LA granted when he signed with the LA Clippers in 2019 free agency.
Uncle Dennis on why Kawhi Leonard needed out of San Antonio
Uncle Dennis later spoke in an interview with Yahoo Sports' Chris Haynes about why Kawhi Leonard needed to get out of San Antonio. This came during Leonard’s lone season with the Raptors. Uncle Dennis basically confirmed what had already been widely speculated by the media.
“I think it just became a lack of trust,” Uncle Dennis said.
“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,” Uncle Dennis continued.
All-in-all, it was a very messy situation for all involved. Luckily for Kawhi Leonard, things worked out as he won another title and now gets to play at home in LA. However, San Antonio was not so fortunate.
After years as one of the league’s top franchises, they have since become a perennial bottom feeder without Leonard. The Spurs are now left waiting for a chance to land another franchise-altering star.
Guess the Lakers players!
