To be frankly honest, I am new here, and I am a new fan of the NBA (i’ve always been a fan, but more closely following recently) can you all explain to me what happened with Kawhi Leonard leaving the Spurs and why he is so hated? Any insight is greatly appreciated!
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.