Kawhi Leonard just finished playing a game in San Antonio on Jan. 3. Eighteen months ago, that wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary.
But he just did it as a member of another team for the first time, and it was a strange sight. Leonard’s new team, the Toronto Raptors, returned to San Antonio for the first time since he and Danny Green were traded for DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl, and a protected 2019 first-round pick. There were lots of boos and shouts of “TRAITOR,” but there was also a warm embrace with Gregg Popovich.
Both parties are doing fine apart — Leonard has led Toronto to the best record in the East, while San Antonio has recovered nicely after a shaky start to the season — but they were once poised to do so much more together. During his time with the Spurs, Leonard grew from mid first-round pick to Finals MVP to arguably the best two-way player in the game. He seemed like the heir to Tim Duncan’s throne.
And then the 2017-18 season happened. A mysterious quad injury led to a rift between Leonard and the organization that never came close to being repaired. Instead, Kawhi asked out with a year left on his contract, and the hamstrung Spurs acquiesced to his wishes instead of risking him leaving for no return.
A lot happened to lead to that surprising conclusion. Follow along for all the updates and in-the-moment commentary as it happened, and check out Pounding the Rock’s Summer Of Kawhi section for even more.
Spurs fans shout ‘TRAITOR’ at Kawhi Leonard while cheering Danny Green
Photo by Ronald Cortes/Getty ImagesKawhi Leonard and Danny Green made their long-awaited first return to San Antonio after the Spurs traded them to Toronto for DeMar DeRozan, and it was an open question whether Spurs fans would boo the star who helped deliver the franchise their fifth NBA championship five seasons ago.
They did. Spurs fans booed Leonard — but they cheered Green.
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