San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich has reportedly traveled to Southern California on Tuesday and met with his star player Kawhi Leonard. Popovich decided to make a trip and talk with Leonard after the player made a trade request last week. The news was first reported by ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski.
ESPN reporting with @ramonashelburne: San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is traveling to Southern California with the intention of meeting with franchise star Kawhi Leonard prior to Thursday’s NBA Draft. Story soon on site.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 20, 2018
Gregg Popovich was trying to organize a meeting with Kawhi Leonard for weeks now, so the two could discuss the issues Leonard has with the Spurs. The 26-year-old has been unhappy with the organization and the way they handled his quad injury which made him miss all but nine games in the past season. Last week he reportedly notified the organization that he wants out and named the Los Angeles Lakers as his preferred destination.
According to sources close to the situation, Leonard has been avoiding meeting with Popovich, and even when the meeting happened, he didn’t want to come along and brought his uncle Dennis Robertson. Robertson, who is also Kawhi’s manager, is reportedly the one pushing the player to leave the Spurs.
Spurs, on the other hand, are trying to handle this situation patiently. Although they have encouraged teams to send proposals, they will not rush into making a trade and hope they will eventually work out the issues with the player.
Kawhi Leonard currently has two years left on his deal but can opt out and become a free agent in 2019. He is eligible to sign a super-max deal with the San Antonio Spurs, which would see him earning $219 million over five years.
Although it looks like Leonard is already out of the door, it is important to note that San Antonio Spurs had a similar situation with LaMarcus Aldridge last summer. Aldridge wanted out, but the Spurs managed to make amends with him and ended up signing him to a contract extension.
