Kawhi Leonard had an injury in 2017, the Spurs diagnosed it as tendinopathy. It's a pain that will always linger, will need rest, but will not get better or worse. Did the Spurs give Kawhi rest? Did his injury get better?
The answer in yes and no. For as much as Raptors fans want to give their medical staff credit for load management, they quickly forget that the Spurs created player rest before it became envogue. The Spurs paid all the fines while everyone else got on board. The Spurs also only played Kawhi 9 games that year. He essentially took the entire year off. What happened during that year. Kawhi worked with the Spurs medical staff and several of his own outside doctors, and they all came up with the same thing. It was reported that he saw 9 outside doctors, and got the same diagnosis. Pop asked his camp to allow them to shut him down for the season. Kawhi's camp refused. Its reported that Uncle Denis didn't like the way the Spurs organization was trying to control things. However of course, Kawhi is still getting paid 19 million and mostly not even sitting on the bench. The classy organization that San Antonio is, allowed Kawhi to save face by constantly saying that Kawhi really wants to play and he is working hard at getting back.
Despite San Antonio's class, Kawhi's camp starts leaking that he wants out, and wants to go to LA. This was first reported by the Jaylen Rose on First Take. The Spurs denied it, and kept talking about how hard Kawhi was working to get back. However, things began to grow contentious between the Spurs and Kawhi's camp. Kawhi's camp cut off communication with the Spurs as he sought his own medical opinion even further. The Spurs would usually send a team medical rep to Kawhis doctors appointments with his outside opinion, but his camp started preventing this. He was still getting paid but would not speak to any team officials.
Sometime around the all-star break, his teammates wanted to know if he was in or out. This meeting angered Kawhi, and his camp put out even more leaks that he wanted to be traded, and he demanded that he will only play for LA. Tony Parker came out and said his injury was a hundred times worst. This quote was taken out of context. He said that he understood what Kawhi was going through, and his injury was a 100 times worst, but the media ran with it. To be fair, Tony has a history of putting his foot in his mouth. Kawhi's camp used this to fuel the fire for his exit. He would not even support his team on the bench during the playoffs. He wouldn't speak to the media, and thus left his teammates to answer questions for him. As admitted by Danny Green, this was hard on them, since he wasn't talking to any of them either. However, he did keep collecting checks.
Finally the team trades Kawhi at his request. It was first reported that he would not play for the Raptors, but this would require him to forfeit his free agency per the CBA because THERE WAS NOT A DIAGNOSIS that said he could not play. Not even from his own doctors. He was just trying to prevent a trade to the Raptors. The Raptors medical staff came up with the SAME DIAGNOSIS AS THE SPURS medical staff. It was still tendinopathy. It was not going to get better or worse. Rest helps, but it would always linger. To win him over, the Raptors medical staff rested him nearly 30% of the season, after he rested almost an entire season with the Spurs. The Spurs diagnosis still proved true. After the year off with the Spurs and all the "loadmanagement" nonsense, he was still in pain after playing a few games in the post season. Its exactly what the Spurs said. Rest will help, but the pain will always exist, and he will always have to play through it.
Kawhi's camp continued to take jabs at the organization telling the media to report things like the Spurs would not put anybody around him. They got him LaMarcus, who was the top FA of his class. People also forget that before Durant joined the Warriors, the Spurs were one of the teams he took a meeting with. Nobody remembers because the Spurs are too classy to blast him for it, but Kawhi would not show up to the meeting. He refused to show up to the meeting that would have resulted in a Spurs team of Durant, LaMarcus and Kawhi. People also forget that the Spurs tried trade for Kyrie.
Once the post season arrived, he played through it. He had to. He had to show top free agents, that he wanted to team up with in LA, that he could still play when it mattered. He had planned all along to team up with a star on the Clippers. Once LeBron signed with the Lakers, his camp sent word that he wanted the Clippers. Somehow, Raptors fans thought they did something the Spurs had never done for Kawhi, and that he might stay with them. They gave uncle Denis free reign. They promised to house and feed him as a country. They begged for 5 more years on the float. They even gave him house warning gifts. All along Kawhi knew that he wanted no parts of the North.
Kawhi sent the fans all the signals by saying things like "this is something they could build on." He told fans to "just enjoy this moment". He used it as a singular term. He was never going to stay. He had plans for the Clippers all along. The whole time he had the Lakers and Raptors waiting, he was trying to recruit KD, Kyrie, and Paul George, but only to the Clippers. The Clippers even tried to get him Jimmy Butler. Kawhi was only recruiting them to the Clippers. Not to the Raptors, and if the Lakers were an option, he would not be recruiting other stars. They already had 2. Its likely that the reporters that were reporting that the Lakers and Raptors were his likely destination, were not the frauds you accuse them to be, but they were most likely Kawhi's camp leaking it to the media for his own gain. Neither team was an option. He used the Raptors private jet to take meetings with the Lakers. He moved the Lakers meeting so that he could meet with PG13.
Kawhi didn't want any of the organizations leaking any info. If they did, it would possibly blow up his plan. He waited see if PG13 can force his way out of OKC one year into his max deal. He wanted to force the clippers to go all in. His sister led social media account kept it going by saying how Kawhi and his family love Canada. He didn't have that leverage without other teams in the mix, so he used real threats in the Lakers and Raptors.
2 years later we look back. He was diagnosed by the Spurs doctors as having tendinopathy. It was not going to get better or worse. Rest helps, but it would always linger. It proved true. After the year off with the Spurs and all the "load management", he was still in pain a few games into the playoffs. The Spurs were never an evil empire. They invented rest, and they even recommend players get their own second opinion according to Manu. Kawhi wanted what he wanted. KAWHI HAS A CONDITION, NOT AN INJURY. Torronto can be happy he led them to their only championship, but they were a means to an end, and an opportunity to rehab his reputation. He will have the problem his entire career. The Lakers were the rival team he wanted to weaken as much as possible, by having them wait to fill out their roster. AD could have kept his 4 million. It was the Clippers all along. Kawhi may seem quiet, but he moves in cut throat silence.
TLDR; He was diagnosed by Spurs doctors as having tendinopathy. He has a condition not an injury. It was not going to get better or worst. Rest helps, but it would always linger. That is exactly what the Spurs told him. It proved true. After the year off with the Spurs and all the "loadmanagement" nonsense, he was still in pain. He had to play through the off season because it was a contract year.
