The ongoing fractured relationship between the San Antonio Spurs and All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard has continued to grow further strained. This has led to the growing perception that both sides could potentially move on over the offseason.
Things have remained the same with there being a strong sense of disconnect coming from Leonard. According to Scott Davis of Business Insider, there is the belief that the 26-year-old’s camp views him playing for the Spurs has hurt his marketability:
A league source told Business Insider that Leonard’s agency and family have never been fond of Texas and feel that San Antonio, a small market, has hurt Leonard’s marketability when it comes to sponsors. The same source said Leonard’s shy personality is more to blame for his inability to get more sponsorships than San Antonio’s market size.
However, this claim was quickly shot down by a knowledge of the situation stating that it was never brought to San Antonio’s attention.
The source with knowledge of the Spurs disputed that claim. The person was never aware that Leonard’s camp was ever unhappy with San Antonio.
Regardless if there is much weight to this notion, it is still clear that both sides are not currently seeing eye to eye. Things are not in great standing at this point, but the situation could change in the coming months over the offseason by meeting up to air out the grievances to work toward bringing Leonard back in the fold.
There is still the possibility that the standing between each has far surpassed any point of amending the problems that currently exist. Leonard could possibly force the Spurs’ hand to work out a trade to another team as he has just two more years left on his five-year, $94.3 million deal with a player option worth $21.3 million for the 2019-20 season.
