Despite the fact that the NBA rumor mill was flooded with whispers from Kawhi Leonard‘s camp this summer, we heard next to nothing from Leonard himself. That changed this morning, with Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports relaying a letter published by the star forward in the wake of the trade that sent him from the Spurs to the Raptors.
“I have been going back and forth the last few weeks trying to figure out the right things to say, and it comes down to two simple words: THANK YOU!” Leonard writes. “My family and I want to say THANK YOU to the entire Spurs organization and the people and fans of San Antonio.”
Leonard’s letter goes on to specifically thank head coach Gregg Popovich, his teammates during his Spurs years, and the San Antonio fans, adding that he’ll “never forget what we have shared and accomplished together.”
While Leonard’s statement expresses the right kind of sentiment, it may be too little, too late for many Spurs fans, considering it comes after months of drama related to his trade request, and weeks after that drama was seemingly resolved with the Raptors trade.
We likely won’t hear from Leonard publicly again until September, when the Raptors host a media day to kick off their training camp.
Now explain why you wanted to leave Kawhi!
That would be a start …
Tony Parker would be the reason! Unrepairable damage!
It’s time to stop being surprised that nearly every player even close to star caliber in the NBA is the engineer of their very own ego train.
Kawhi didn’t mean a damn thing.
That’s the worst goodbye letter I’ve seen in my life. People have left way worse situations with no championships to show for it and have shown more gratitude than that.
This just comes off as extremely disingenuous without an explanation to the trade request.
He left because the team didn’t trust him. Imagine other doctors are telling you you’re not ok while the team doctors are telling you that you are ok. Guarantee he didn’t feel like the Spurs didn’t have his best interest and long term health in mind and just wanted him to play
People need to move on. He’s a Raptor, DeRozan is a Spur. Time to move on. I am personally excited to see where all the moves that happened this off season take us this season.
Everyone is reacting to the lameduck letter Kawhi’s team wrote for him. It is not like everyone just jumped on him for demanding a silly, stupid trade from an world class organization out of nowhere. Kawhi is the one who needs to move on & get some gloves for winter wear, old school ear muffs would be a great idea too. Brrr. He will learn the meaning of wind chill factor, Laker effect snow storms. Not quite the Lakers effect he originally had in mind but it have to do for now if he wants the cash.
Doesn’t really show much of a good side of Kawhi, hopefully he has got one & one day we will see it & enjoy it.
I think we have seen his side, and it was never pretty from even before the NBA. But he will probably become a philanthropist someday.
Right….. This guy probably will never return to SA unless he is playing against them.
It took two weeks to go ”back & forth to figure out the right things to say” Really! Couldn’t Uncle Leonard figure out something a little quicker than two weeks? Sounds like ME issues to me. “You bought the ticket, Enjoy the ride” Hunter S. Thompson…… Toronto is a great town, just get a good pair of rabbit skin gloves…sorry PETA they are the best.
Kawhi should have also thanked Pop for trading for him, bringing him to SA from Indiana to win a World Championship. It was Pop who showed him the way.