Basically:

Kawhi got hurt.

Spurs diagnosed him with a chronic, degenerative quadriceps injury. Kawhi was coming up on the end of his contract and wanted the max, but the Spurs were apparently hesitating after diagnosing him.

Kawhi shopped around through various specialists, almost all agreed with the Spurs initial diagnosis.

Kawhi found a doctor in New York that told him what he wanted to hear, that it was a normal injury that could be fixed, and Kawhi began aggressively rehabbing with them.

During this time, Kawhi didn’t communicate with the team. Pretty much the entire year, reports said he was 2-4 weeks away from returning. And every 2-4 weeks, a new report would come out saying it would be 2-4 more weeks.

While there, he sequestered himself with his Uncle, Dennis. Dennis was like a father figure to Kawhi after his own father had been murdered. Dennis was also Kawhi’s agent, and seemed like he wanted to start his own agency like Rich Paul did with LeBron. He also asked the Spurs to give him a job in the Spurs FO, which they declined. It is widely believed that Dennis was in Kawhi’s ear at this time and essentially convinced him that he was too big a star to be constrained to a small market like San Antonio.

Apparently, Spurs reps went to see him in New York to check on him, and he hid from them and refused to talk to them. He was never on the bench in street clothes, even during the Playoffs. His teammates became frustrated with constantly being asked when he’d return, and a few even said some sharp things about the situation.

Less than a week after the Spurs were eliminated from the Playoffs, Kawhi, who had basically not made a public appearance in months, was seen at an LA Dodgers game. Shortly thereafter, Kawhi demanded a trade and named Los Angeles as his preferred destination.

Kawhi was traded to Toronto for far below his value, won a championship with the Raptors, and then signed with the Clippers in free agency. To add insult to injury, the Clippers medical team stated that Kawhi had a chronic, degenerative quadriceps injury which the Spurs medical staff had initially diagnosed him with.

As a result of this, many Spurs fans feel that Kawhi essentially quit on the team and hid behind his injury as an excuse. Dennis also tried to throw the Spurs under the bus, claiming the medical staff was incompetent (which was proved wrong a few years later) and that Kawhi wanted a trade because the Spurs were pressuring him to come back before he was healed (which is odd considering the Spurs were the first team to adopt the practice of load management, including resting Kawhi himself in some back-to-back games pre-injury). Of course, the media ran with those claims and celebrated the downfall of the once “classy” Spurs organization, so it was a rough time to be a Spurs fan.

Also part of the riff with the team was Kawhi wanted to leave and he used the injury to force his way out. His uncle later admitted this is an interview. (That Kawhi wanted out regardless of the injury). It happens all the time now (players wanting to leave for whatever reason). But it was not normal back then and honestly the Spurs didn’t handle it well. If a player wants to leave you start planning for their exit. The Spurs thought it would blow over once he got back on the court. One of the reasons Pop was so upset with Kawhi was Kawhi’s agents disagreed with the Spurs medical staff and wanted a 2nd opinion. The first person they went to agreed with the Spurs. The 2nd person they went to (now we’re on a 3rd person diagnosing him) said he couldn’t play. So it looked like he was hunting for a doctor that would rule him out. This led to the now famous “ask Kawhi”. A reporter asked Pop when Kawhi would be back from injury. Pop leaned in and angrily said “ask Kawhi, ask him and his team”. Until that point no one knew what was going on behind the scences. It was just a normal player out with injury. Pop reacting that way made the national media look into it and discovered the battle going on behind the scenes. Then there was video of Kawhi walking normally, then he saw the camera and started to limp. LOL Yo, when tell you it was drama, you can’t understand. I won’t even get into the rest right now. Just know it was wild

Lots of mentions of Kawhi’s uncle Dennis (I’ll get back to him) but does anyone remember Chris Carter? I do. Chris Carter is a former NFL player who had a debate style sports show on ESPN. He was friends with Kawhi’s family. When the drama was in full swing he would come on the air and tell the story from Kawhi’s point of view. This made the national narative “the Spurs mishandled Kawhi’s injury”. Years later Kawhi is still dealing with the same issue with the Clippers, no one apologized. The Spurs were right. The Spurs said it’s a degenerative issue that needs be managed. If you rest for a month or if you rest for 6 months it’s not going to go away. Chris Carter spon the story into “the Spurs are trying to force Kawhi to play while injured”.

Getting back to the uncle. After Kawhi was traded it came out that Kahwi’s uncle was asking the Spurs for a bunch of financial perks for himself that are illegal under the CBA. He did the same thing in Toronto. It was spun as the Spurs didn’t know how to handle a modern superstar. I guess implying that these perks are normal. I don’t think they are, considerering Toronto refused also.