Alrighr LJ, let’s hear it...

[Twisted_Dawg]

I might write something in the next few days if I feel like it but it's not going to be anything too earth shattering, tbh. Not going to go into full details. It wouldn't do the Spurs any good to expose everything ... and I'm a Spurs fan before anything, tbh.

Safe to say Spurs made their fair share of mistakes and didn't handle things well in retrospect...

If you do comment on it, I hope you put a sticky on it.

[buujness]

Manu was one of the main guys calling out Kawhi yet he gets a pass.

Manu literally sacrificed a nut for the Spurs.

He will always get a pass from me.

[Play Boban]

lj thats wack just go into full details or dont write it at all.........

Truth bomb tbh

[Saitam]

So let’s say it ALWAYS was the lack of trust about the injury for why kawhi wanted out.
Then why only say you want to go to L.A? Yes it’s your home town but like 98% of NBA players play on a team that was not originally their hometown.

Why did his group continue to give false dates on when kawhi was going to return? Kept pump faking the spurs as Michael c Wright said. Which ended up being the most frustrating part for the players based on what Manu said last year.

i kept hearing that Pop wanted to shut kawhi down for the year but kawhi wanted to keep rehabbing in hopes of returning, is that true? If so, how would this be a lack of trust?

We kept hearing that the relationship started changing after Kawhi changed agents which was like 2, 3 years ago. Was a trade request imminent regardless of what had happened last year because of this. Because of the agency his uncle wants to create.

Why no 1 on 1 meeting with Pop during the summer?

it seemed like the Supermax was the last thing on kawhis mind, but maybe it wasn’t. Did this play a huge role in him leaving? But again, why be a and screw the spurs and say only L.A.

We heard so many conflicting reports it’s mind numbing to try to figure out what’s true and what’s false. First supposedly kawhi says he would do anything for the players but it’s the organization that’s treating him bad or something to that nature. And that was said during the player only meeting. But then we hear that it’s the players causing him grief and that he still loves Pop but just couldn’t be in SA anymore because of Spurs players. But now it seems like he didn’t like Pop very much with some comments made throughout the season. but thats just trying to read between the lines on what kawhi has said in recent interviews.

i still believe it has MOSTLY to do with Uncle Dennis and Spurs front office clashing heads. And as soon as he felt disrespected, all it takes is for him to tell his nephew that the Spurs are not treating him fairly, or with respect.

Uncle wanted more control (look at the All star incident in New Orleans where uncle is saying spurs are being too demanding) Uncle demanded certain things from the spurs but didn’t get them so it got ugly.

40% of the Raptors championship starting lineup were molded by the spurs. To say that the Spurs did not have their future franchise player best interest in mind when dealing with this injury situation seems absurd. Pop claimed kawhi to be the best player in the world back in 2017 so I’m pretty sure he knows to take care of him just like he took care of timmy after he went down in 2000 and wanted to comeback to play in the playoffs.

If Spurs Medical staff diagnosed with degenerative quads tendons, how would you react if you were a new agent with only 1 player? Get other opinions
Would PATFO give a strangling supermax deal knowing that your franchise player is diagnosed with that problem and knowing that he has been injury prone? No ing way.
All the rest is how KL camp managed and hustled #2 way out of SA. PATFO made many mistakes in that stretch, but none so significant to end that way.
IT´S ALL ABOUT MONEY. Not just NBA contracts, but bigger markets and endorsements.

[apalisoc_9]

Nothing Ellis will say would change the narrative. At this point saying something is not even worth it since get blackballed.

The Spurs organization and the Spurs players do read spurstalk to gauge fan reception. FYI.

[Kori Ellis]

Here's my take on the story ...

From what I understand (and I'm not saying this is fact, just what I was told), Kawhi got his feelings hurt because someone in the organization (not a player, not Pop) said in not-so-kind words that he was being a wimp about the injury. Kawhi wasn't that riled up about it, but was offended. Mentioned it to his Uncle, and Kawhi's group then got Kawhi really riled up about it (saying he was being disrespected, not appreciated, Spurs were too controlling, Kawhi wasn't having input on player signings, etc.) Side note: I believe that Kawhi really only cares about playing basketball, but he trusts his advisors completely, when maybe they are just looking out for their own best interest not necessarily his.

At that point, anything the Spurs did or said to Kawhi was met with resistance by the group and blown out of proportion by the media. (For example, when Tony talked about Kawhi's injury, that was actually a comment in support of Kawhi -- go watch the video again. "Worse" things were said by other players privately, but none of them were trying to slight Kawhi - they were just confused/frustrated by the lack of communication. Kawhi was just trying to rehab and had turned over most communication to his group.) Kawhi was never pissed off at any of his teammates or even really with Pop. He thought he was physically not able to play at that point, and he had become convinced that the grass was greener elsewhere. And he was right... he just won a Championship.

I think that communication could have been a lot better on both sides, and I think Kawhi could have done a lot more to improve that communication. I also think he could have played more than those 9 games, and if he really couldn't, he should have been sitting behind the bench in support of his teammates. But I'm not one of the many doctors he consulted, so what do I know?

Do I think he will stay in Toronto? Probably not. He's probably very happy there (especially right now), but again, "coming home" to California is a big appeal to him and the group.

Disclaimer: There's more to the story but this is the beginning of it, and timvp has some insight on that info that he may or may not ever share.

[Emperor]

We all deserve to know what the happened. We attend the games, we purchase their merchandise, we call off sick the morning after, we support this team through good times and bad. If anyone has wronged this organization in any way or vice versa, we as fans who help make these players outrageous salaries become possible, ought to know the absolute truth to this dragged on story already.

[Genovaswitness]

We all deserve to know what the happened. We attend the games, we purchase their merchandise, we call off sick the morning after, we support this team through good times and bad. If anyone has wronged this organization in any way or vice versa, we as fans who help make these players outrageous salaries become possible, ought to know the absolute truth to this dragged on story already.

absolutely...

[Roscoe P. Coltrane]

Because he's an alfa and didn't want a chick telling him how to play basketball.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

Glad he's gone.

[K...]

Thanks kori

Really a perfect storm scenario

Mystery illness
Contract extension
Pops wife
The holt family drama (the Holts could have sucked up to unk, but there was no stable period to try and work ownership given the transfer of power)
Ainge being cheap
Uncle

[ZeusWillJudge]

Safe to say Spurs made their fair share of mistakes and didn't handle things well in retrospect...

Well what we know for sure is that:
Even though he was only 20 when he got to SA, Pop limited his minutes. People here ed constantly about how a guy that young ought to be able to play more. So it looks like he had a problem when he got here, and Pop was careful with him. I'm not buying any suggestion that the Spurs suddenly threw player health under the bus.
Last year Kawhi showed up for a mysterious 9-game stint, played without any sign of discomfort, and then just as mysteriously disappeared again. And the 9 games coincided with the launch of a new Nike shoe and ad campaign that he was in.
Kawhi made his desire (damand?) to be traded public, and even let it be known that there were only a couple of places he was interested in going, which ruined his trade value.

All of that is do ented in black and white. And if Kawhi really avoided communicating directly with the Spurs, which is what it looked like, the information on what the Spurs did would have to be pretty damning. If he really felt disrespected, but didn't have the balls to stand up and say so? There's no right way to handle someone like that. But everything I saw says that they (Nephew and Uncle) were looking to manufacture a way to get to a large market, and there's really no way to "handle things well" with that kind of bull .

The Spurs were always held up as the best organization in basketball. The one all the others should be measured by. I'm not buying the idea that they suddenly became the worst, just because they didn't have a formula for how to deal with this bull . The Pels are going to have to deal with the loss of Anthony Davis, who went public with his desire to get to a big market team, and there's nothing they can do about it either. Cleveland largely lost their investment in Kyrie, and now Boston is going to do the same - he's not going to go to a small market. LeBron didn't leave Cleveland (again) to go to Charlotte. Kawhi wanted out and he got his ticket out. Congrats to him and Uncle.

[Keepin' it real]

Here's my take on the story ...

From what I understand (and I'm not saying this is fact, just what I was told), Kawhi got his feelings hurt because someone in the organization (not a player, not Pop) said in not-so-kind words that he was being a wimp about the injury.

No way he'd get worked up if the guy who pours cheese on the nachos said something, so clearly it had to be RC, medical staff or more likely, ownership wondering why the are they paying him $20M to take a year off?

[DesignatedT]

So peter holt or RC Buford called him a pussy?

[MoSpur02]

Thanks kori

Really a perfect storm scenario

Mystery illness
Contract extension
Pops wife
The holt family drama (the Holts could have sucked up to unk, but there was no stable period to try and work ownership given the transfer of power)
Ainge being cheap
Uncle

Holt's really had nothing to do with Kawhi wanting out. Sure they wanted to know what was happening, but in no way did they have something to do with Kawhi wanting to leave. There was never a period where things weren't stable. Why suck up to the uncle? The Spurs owners aren't really involved in the decisions going on with the team. They have total trust in Pop, R.C, and the front office to handle those things. Some might complain that they should be more involved. I for one think they should be a little more hands on when it comes to certain things, but the Spurs have been very successful with how things have been run, why mess with it I guess?

[slick'81]

So peter holt or RC Buford called him a pussy?

If buford did he should be fired

[rjv]

So peter holt or RC Buford called him a pussy?

considering the tour of duty that holt put it in 'nam, i'd say it'd be safe to assume he would have regarded nephew as a puss.

[MoSpur02]

Thanks for your input Kori. What you say makes sense. I was told back in late 2017 about the dinner Pop, Kawhi, and Dejounte had where Kawhi probably said only 2-3 words. He had pretty much shut off all communication with the Spurs. My source kept telling me it was all about his uncle.

[BWS-1994]

Thanks for your input Kori. What you say makes sense. I was told back in late 2017 about the dinner Pop, Kawhi, and Dejounte had where Kawhi probably said only 2-3 words. He had pretty much shut off all communication with the Spurs. My source kept telling me it was all about his uncle.

Wow. He even shut out Pop?

[Ocotillo]

No way he'd get worked up if the guy who pours cheese on the nachos said something, so clearly it had to be RC, medical staff or more likely, ownership wondering why the are they paying him $20M to take a year off?

My guess is Becky.

[lmbebo]

Thanks,

Makes some sense when you go back and hear what David, Bruce, et al said about him needing to grow up and make his own decisions, etc..

[RC_Drunkford]

I would dismiss RC from the list of the candidates because there have been reports that he still has sleepless nights about it not knowing where the relationship went sour. The question is who is this person? And why can't the Spurs fire the person that did it? Does Will Sevening have something to do with it?

[rjv]

I would dismiss RC from the list of the candidates because there have been reports that he still has sleepless nights about it not knowing where the relationship went sour. The question is who is this person? And why can't the Spurs fire the person that did it? Does Will Sevening have something to do with it?

maybe that person isn't 'fireable'.

[MoSpur02]

My guess is it may have been someone involved with the medical staff if that was the case. Stills seems like a cop out on Kawhi and his uncle's part. From what I know the Spurs tried hard time after time to communicate with Kawhi to try to patch things up, but there was really no communication from Kawhi, which is Pop really couldn't answer questions regarding Kawhi's "injury" and him possibly returning. It's also why players pretty much had no answers for the media regarding his return and why ex Spurs couldn't even get a return call from Kawhi.

[BWS-1994]

I would dismiss RC from the list of the candidates because there have been reports that he still has sleepless nights about it not knowing where the relationship went sour. The question is who is this person? And why can't the Spurs fire the person that did it? Does Will Sevening have something to do with it?

So not RC.

According to Kori’s source, not Pop or the players either.

According to MoSpur02’s source, not Holt too.

Who else?