This story is bizarre. It is like he is trying to convince the Spurs not to offer him a max contract.

Adrian WojnarowskiESPN


The San Antonio Spurs held a players-only meeting to implore All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard to return to the lineup and help the team in its push for the playoffs, league sources told ESPN.

Spurs guard Manu Ginobili says the team was fooled by the media into thinking injured forward Kawhi Leonard would return this season. The team has "to fight without him," Ginobili says.

Spurs guard Tony Parker, a four-time NBA champion, quarterbacked the meeting with his teammates and Leonard after Saturday night's victory over Minnesota, league sources said.

The conversation was described as tense and emotional at times, league sources said.

Several teammates spoke up, expressing frustration and confusion over a growing divide with Leonard that has created significant tension between the franchise star and the Spurs, league sources said.

Leonard, 26, was resolute in response, insisting that he had good reason for sitting out all but nine games with a right quad injury this season, league sources said.

Leonard is a two-time first-team All-NBA player and NBA Defensive Player of the Year, as well as the 2014 NBA Finals MVP. He is eligible for a $200 million contract extension this summer, and free agency in 2019.

Leonard has impressed his coaches and teammates in 3-on-3 and 4-on-4 workouts, and there had been a belief his rehabilitation was cycling toward a return to the floor in the past week, league sources said.

Leonard has targeted games in the recent week, only to decide that he wasn't feeling confident in the injury to return, league sources said.

The Spurs have 11 games left in the regular season, and are holding onto the sixth spot in the Western Conference playoff race with a 42-30 record. San Antonio has won five straight games.

In the aftermath of the weekend team meeting, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili told reporters that the team needed to proceed as though Leonard would not be returning to play with them.

"He is not coming back," Ginobili said. "For me, he's not coming back because it's not helping [to think Leonard is returning]. We fell for it a week ago again. I guess you guys made us fall for it. But we have to think that he's not coming back, that we are who we are, and that we got to fight without him. That shouldn't be changing, at least until he is ready for the jump ball."

Leonard stepped away to focus on rehabbing the injured quad after a nine-game return to the Spurs that ended on Jan. 13. Leonard resumed working out in San Antonio on Feb. 27.

_________________

This thread title. Poor FavreFan.

Maybe he's got graduations to attend

_________________

It’s been a rough year. I would like to thank CFMB for their continued support during this trying time.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I want to see him come back as much as anyone, since as it stands currently the battle in the West appears to be between old evil and new evil. I hate the Warriors as much as anyone, but I'll be damned if I have to therefore support a Harden-Paul-Morey team.

Agreed. I want Portland to crash their party so badly but they just don’t have quite enough.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

_________________
Elections have consequences.

A younger me would have said this dude needs to come back. But if he's holding out to guarantee he doesn't mess up his 200M pay day then now I'm like good for him. I support that.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

There has to be more to this that we dont know about?

such a crazy situation

_________________
"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

There might be but I don't think so. I think what we know is more or less what it is - The Spurs and their staff think Kawhi is healthy and ready to play, and he disagrees and isn't going to play until he's ready. Must just be a mental hangup thing some guys have after a major injury.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

No and no.

It's simple. It's about the $200M

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

My explanation was simple too. And much more likely to be correct since it doesn’t rely on uneducated guessing.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

Well he does have a kid who will be graduating HS in 16 years

_________________
Sherman remarked, "Well, Grant, we've had the devil's own day, haven't we?" Grant looked up. "Yes," he replied, followed by a puff. "Yes. Lick 'em tomorrow, though."

I'm not sure him playing will cost him 200 million.

_________________

Yo can get yourself Hayward'ed anytime.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

What's uneducated about $200M. Bling bling

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

He would still get a max deal.

_________________

Lebron should sit to then.

_________________

Is LBJ about to get his first max deal?

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

It wouldn’t. Vegan’s just doing his thing.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

It's just a bad premise. If he played today and tore his ACL and hit the open market this year he would be offered a max contract by multiple teams.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

200 mil is 200 mil.

Slightly above Average players get max deals. Outside of dying, Kawhi is getting a max deal.

_________________

I'm just suggesting that it's highly likely that guys close to him are whispering in his ear telling him to sit because of the max deal stuff. Nothing would probably happen to him if he played (assuming he's healthy) but he's got a lot at stake. So I don't blame him for being conservative.

_________________
Successful calls:

Kyrie Irving will never win anything as a team's alpha: check
T.rubisky is a bust: check
Ben Simmons is a liability: check
The Fields Cult is dumb: double check

2013 CSFMB ROY

If he doesn't play, I don't think he's getting a max deal from the Spurs.

_________________

Any chance he also sits out next season injured if he is not sent to the Lakers?

_________________

You're welcome Garpax

this guy is a loser. why the hell would the spurs trade this guy to the lakers. fuck him. trade him to orlando. i heard rumors he wants to be part of lebron lakers super team but fuck him. I guess he and/or his agent thinks he'll be a big star in l.a. i dont think so. he was good when tim duncan was carrying his ass. now that he's the man, you can see he's always getting hurt.

The Suns have the best ammo, even better than the Celtics. But Kawhi has all the power. No commitment, no deal. And the Suns aren’t in the unique position OKC was in last year.

I don’t think he will agree to a deal there. I think it’s just the Suns leaking that they’re trying to contend now.

_________________
Fare you well, fare you well
I love you more than words can tell
Listen to the river sing sweet songs
To rock my soul

I hope the Spurs make him stay all year, fuck this guy.

_________________