Right about the time it seemed as if NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard might not be long for the San Antonio Spurs, the restricted-free-agent-to-be had this to say about his future down by the Riverwalk.
"I don't think I'm going anywhere," he told USA TODAY Sports in November after failing to reach an agreement on an extension with the Spurs. "I want to finish out with one team like a lot of great players have done, to stay with one organization their whole career and just be loyal to that. You never know. We'll see what happens next summer, but I'm pretty sure I'll be in a Spurs jersey for my whole life."
The "you never know" part remains true, of course, meaning Leonard could still decide he doesn't like the direction the Spurs are going and find a way out of town. There are multiple nightmare scenarios for San Antonio, among them the notion that he could sign the qualifying offer for next season (thereby becoming an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2016) or perhaps land a Chandler Parsons-esque offer sheet elsewhere that could wreak havoc on the Spurs' long-term plans (the Houston Rockets let Parsons go in restricted free agency last summer when the Dallas Mavericks gave him a three year, $46 million deal with a player option in the third season).
San Antonio didn't give Leonard the maximum-salary deal he wanted before the Oct. 31 deadline because they wanted to keep maximum flexibility for 2015 free agency. Because Leonard's salary cap hold on that kind of extension could have served as an obstacle to landing other top-tier free agents to put around him (with Marc Gasol believed to be atop that list), they took the calculated risk of letting his situation remain unresolved.
Three months later, it's clear that Leonard has every right to ask for that max deal without an ounce of shame. Not only is he on a career-high pace in points (15.3 per game), rebounds (7.5), assists (2.5), and steals (two) in the 24 games in which he wasn't dealing with injuries, but the Spurs lost nine of 17 games without him this season when he was.