Also, I’m not surprised to see Manu/TP being the one’s speaking out. Obviously, times have changed. Kawhi is very obviously not a Tim Duncan (nor is that fair to expect that).
We should expect however, for the face of a franchise, for him to be a better communicator and respect his teammates enough to stay close, cheer them on and be a leader. SA shields Kawhi because of his nature from most of the duties of a franchise superstar. But someone looking to get paid 200M as the face of franchise owes his teammates a of a lot more than he’s given them.
Not only watching them battle and fight and scrap, but then to have to answer non-stop questions from media/fans on his behalf? Kawhi has royally screwed his teammates over. They would understand (and it was reported in this recent meeting that they still do understand) and support him not playing through an injury. They don’t understand why he’s not around and distanced himself from them.
But back to my main point of Manu/TP doing the talking. They are legends who grew up with Tim and they themselves put the team first. Kawhi is obviously like the 99% of other NBA players who don’t think like that (and that’s fine), but Manu/TP aren’t used to it, don’t like it and they are on their last legs. They don’t care if they alienate Kawhi because they know they don’t have much longer anyways.
As much as TP/Manu love the Spurs, they are legends that are fading and don’t want to deal with this crap and would prefer their last years be spent with the best chance possible of going out winners.
I still lean toward them offering and him accepting the super max this summer, but at the same time, I don't know how the relationship between him and his teammates (specifically the long time ones, who outside of Ginobili, will probably be around for a while) gets repaired.
This is basically the two professional cardinal sins among teammates in one: 1) Either not playing despite being medically cleared or doing so but giving little to no effort and 2) Spending little time around the team, not keeping them in the loop and forcing them have to answer on your behalf constantly.
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they also watched Tim Duncan spend his last years playing on 1 functional knee..I can fully understand if they're disgusted by K-Rose..
