Gregg Popovich needs to 'lighten up,' according to his best player - report

By Ross Kelly April 27, 2018 at 8:38am

One of the most interesting and strangest storylines throughout the NBA season has been the rift between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs are seen as one of the pre-eminent organizations in all of sports, and they’ve never had a public beef with a player since Gregg Popovich became coach in 1996.

Leonard finished in the top three in MVP voting in each of the previous two seasons and is as known for his stoic demeanor as he is for his two-way ability.

Yet he and Popovich never seemed to get along all season, and it was related to the handling and rehab of Leonard’s quadriceps injury.

Leonard played in just nine games all season, and a report from the New York Daily News says that if Leonard’s demands aren’t met, he might not play in any games for the Spurs next season.

Frank Isola of the Daily News spoke with a rival NBA executive about Leonard’s contract. The Spurs star is under contract for the 2018-19 season but will be eligible to sign a super-max extension with the team this summer.

“Don’t you have to sign him?” asks one rival executive. “From what I understand, he wants Popovich to lighten up a little with practice and tweak some things. The Spurs may not want to change their ways, but this is Kawhi Leonard we’re talking about.”

Popovich is known to be as hard on his players as he is on sideline reporters, and Leonard is apparently tired of that approach.

The coach reportedly chewed out Tim Duncan in front of the whole team to send a message that no player was more important than the rest. With Duncan retired it’s likely that Leonard has inherited that unwanted role.

Do you think Gregg Popovich should 'lighten up'?

During a game last season, Popovich called a timeout just one minute into the second half in order to yell at Leonard for making a mistake during an offensive set.

While one would assume that at 69 years old and on the Mount Rushmore of NBA coaches, Popovich would be unlikely to change his ways for the sake of Leonard, that might not be the case.

Just last offseason LaMarcus Aldridge asked the Spurs to trade him because he wasn’t happy in San Antonio. Popovich met with Aldridge and the coach realized that his All-Star player wasn’t at fault, but rather he was.

Pop then altered the offense and the way he coached Aldridge, which led to the power forward averaging the most points in his three seasons in San Antonio.

“I was very candid with him,” Popovich said. “I told him I would be happy to trade him. You get me a talent like Kevin Durant and I will drive you to the airport. I will pack your bags and I will drive you there,’ and he laughed. And I said, ‘Short of that I am your best buddy, and you are here for another year and you ain’t going nowhere because for you talent-wise, we are not going to get what we want, so let’s figure this thing out. And we did.”

Now it falls on Popovich to figure things out with Leonard, as if he didn’t think he would get equal value in an Aldridge trade, then there’s no way he’ll get equal value on a Leonard trade.

Leonard, Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford will meet together shortly to try to hash out any differences between the player and the organization. If Leonard doesn’t re-sign with the Spurs this summer, he will be a free agent in 2019 if he’s not traded before then.

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