If you thought you were free of the Kawhi Leonard-Spurs drama once Leonard got shipped to Toronto this summer, the past few days have likely delivered a surprise.
Over the weekend, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich delivered an interesting comment about Leonard and his leadership qualities (or lack thereof) while discussing Patty Mills' importance to San Antonio's locker room.
"Well, Kawhi [Leonard] was a great player, but he wasn't a leader or anything," Popovich told the media. "Manu [Ginobili] and Patty [Mills] were the leaders. Kawhi's talent will always be missed, but that leadership wasn't his deal at that time. That may come as he progresses, but Patty and Manu filled that role for us last year, and LaMarcus [Aldridge] came a long way in that regard also."
As you'd expect, that quote quickly made its way to Leonard, who responded on Sunday.
"I heard about it. It's just funny to me because, you know, I don't know if he's talking about last year or not, but I guess when you stop playing they forget how you lead," Leonard said. "Other than that, it doesn't matter. I'm here with the Raptors. My focus is on the season and not what's going on the other side."
It would've been somewhat difficult for Kawhi to lead the Spurs last season considering he played just nine games and was embroiled in a year-long soap opera involving the team and his willingness to play for them, so Popovich would probably have a point if he was speaking specifically about last season. But he also prefaced it with a comment about his abilities as a player, and those weren't exactly prominent last season, either.
It's worth noting that Popovich had previously praised Leonard's leadership, saying he was a quiet presence who led by example.
In any case, Kawhi doesn't seem too triggered by comments, even if he did utilize out the classic, "I'm not mad, it's actually funny to me" response. And why should he be bothered? He successfully booked his ticket out of San Antonio and is thriving in Toronto thus far, leading the first-place Raptors in points, rebounds and steals.
And he believes he's a pretty good leader as well.
"I lead by example coming into practice every day. Just going hard and coming into these games mentally focused," he said. "You can't see things once you're playing on the floor. Guys ask me questions about their matchup or if I see something on the floor, I'm telling guys, 'Go here, go there,' just motivating people, do you know what I mean?"
Leonard's Raptors will return to action on Tuesday when they travel to face the Memphis Grizzlies (8 p.m. ET -- watch on fuboTV with the NBA League Pass extension). Toronto will try and make it six straight and improve the best record in the league.
