San Antonio Spurs: Kawhi Leonard still ‘irate’ with Tony Parker’s comments

Kawhi Leonard remains unhappy with public comments made by Tony Parker and Gregg Popovich, according to a report on the San Antonio Spurs’ disgruntled star.

Late-night news broke from Yahoo’s Shams Charania, who reported that San Antonio Spurs star Kawhi Leonard and Gregg Popovich met Tuesday. It became the latest stage of the months-long saga on Leonard’s unhappiness with the organization, and days after reports of the desired trade from San Antonio.

Well, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Ramona Shelburne added to the meeting reports, noting how Leonard remains “irate” with Popovich and Tony Parker over unsupportive in-season comments, as well as the belief that the quadriceps injury was mishandled.

Before the meeting took place, Leonard did not want to sit down with Popovich and purposefully made himself “difficult” for the Spurs to reach. It’s likely due to Leonard’s desire to no longer play in San Antonio and to join the Los Angeles Lakers, whether it’s via trade or 2019 free agency, as was added in the report.

Parker’s comments were a comparison between quadriceps injuries, calling the one he suffered in the 2017 playoffs “100 times worse” than Leonard’s. That’s while Popovich told the media to ask Leonard’s “group” about his timetable to return from injury.

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None of this sounds positive for the Spurs, as it seems Leonard’s intentions of a departure are concrete. The organization can still hold onto him until July 1, 2019, but waiting only limits the time frame to trade their would-be face of the franchise.

If it’s the Lakers that take Leonard, will they wait until 2019 or sacrifice assets now to ensure everything goes their way? Although the ESPN report noted San Antonio’s lack of interest in engaging the Magic Johnson-led front office in negotiations, it’s difficult to believe there would not be at least one phone call made.

Next: 2018 NBA Mock Draft: The final edition

With the draft on Thursday night, Leonard talk will only heat up. Whether or not the Spurs move that soon is unknown, but on one of the NBA’s busiest nights of the year, how many calls will they take on their disgruntled star?