Eric Gay/AP
Kawhi Leonard sat out for virtually all of what turned out to be his last season with the San Antonio Spurs.
- Recent reports indicate that Kawhi Leonard grew dissatisfied with the San Antonio Spurs in part because he felt he wasn't getting the appropriate star treatment.
- This appears to stem from Leonard seeing how other stars were treated during the 2016 NBA All-Star weekend, according to the reports.
- Leonard and the Spurs later had a falling-out over his quad injury, but there may have been cracks emerging in the relationship beforehand.
A recent report from Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News, as well as an appearance by ESPN Spurs reporter Michael C. Wright on Zach Lowe of ESPN's podcast, indicates that there was more to Kawhi Leonard's mysterious rift with the San Antonio Spurs than just his injury.
According to McDonald, one of the first changes with Leonard and his relationship with the Spurs came during the 2016 NBA All-Star weekend in Toronto.
"Leonard and his traveling companions noticed other All-Stars - notably Oklahoma City point guard Russell Westbrook - were using private luxury cars to get around, instead of the standard transportation provided by the NBA. They wanted the star treatment, too," McDonald wrote.
Addressing that anecdote on his podcast, Lowe said, "I heard similar noise from other teams, not the Raptors, that were in and around the Kawhi trade discussions ... that this was an issue that was brought up ... There are ways that franchises are supposed to treat superstars ... and the Spurs just, they don't do that. That's Tim Duncan, that's the Spurs, that's how they operate, and that annoyed him."
Wright confirmed that he had heard that story about the All-Star game, but also said that he has heard the Spurs do take good care of their stars.
"This comes down to what the issue has always been between the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard, that's communication," Wright said. "You know it's hard to get Kawhi to say three words to you. So I'm sure if Kawhi would have said 'Hey, I want a Bentley' or 'I want this' or whatever, I'm sure the Spurs would have done everything in their power to make that happen for him."
Of course, at the start of the 2017-18 season, Leonard and the Spurs had a disagreement about his quad injury and how to rehab it. Leonard got a second opinion and began working with his own team, further creating a rift between the two sides. From the sounds of it, there may have been small cracks already emerging beforehand.
"One thing I say when I discuss the whole Kawhi situation, is that it's like one day Kawhi woke up and realized he was a superstar in this league . . . then you saw all the problems start."