It's tradition for each player on the NBA's champions to parade the Larry O'Brien trophy around in their hometown for a few days. For the most part, Spurs players followed the custom. Manu Ginobili took it to an Argentina barbecue. Matt Bonner took it to a music festival. Patty Mills and Aron Baynes took it to seven different Australian cities.
Kawhi Leonard was too busy working out to show off the championship trophy
The Finals MVP instead left the Larry O’Brien trophy in his living room where nobody could see it.
Soobum Im-USA TODAY Sports
Eventually, Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard got his chance to show off the symbol of what he worked so hard to earn last year. For the first two days, he did show it off ... to nobody:
He had it Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and he arranged for people to take pictures with it at his annual skills camp for youths last weekend in his hometown of Moreno Valley.
And Thursday and Friday?
It sat in the living room of the San Diego condominium he rents during the offseason while the Spurs staffer who chaperones the trophy around the world lounged at a UTC hotel pool ... while Leonard was at his three-a-day workouts.
Leonard’s reasoning: he was too busy working out and didn’t have any time to break for a trophy display. Let’s assume Leonard is awake for 16 hours and needs 4-5 hours to eat and go from place to place. That leaves 12 hours for him to do something to parade the trophy around. I guess that’s not enough time.
In Leonard’s defense, the trophy was probably thrilled to have some time to unwind after the long journey in Australia.
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