Report: Spurs Planning 'All-Hands-On-Deck Summer Meeting' With Kawhi Leonard
With their postseason run officially over thanks to Tuesday's Game 5 loss to the Warriors, the Spurs now shift their attention to the offseason.
Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com reports that one of San Antonio's top priorities this offseason will be "an all-hands-on-deck summer meeting" with All-Star Kawhi Leonard. Wright reports coach Gregg Popovich will take the lead for the meeting, and the two sides will look to determine if they can address their differences.
This season Leonard played in just nine games and rumors about his relationship with the team became a major storyline for much of the second-half of the year because of his approach to dealing with a right quadriceps injury. Leonard is still rehabbing from the injury in New York, according to Wright, although he was cleared by the team doctors to return in February.
Next season, Leonard will be entering the second to last year of his contract that has a player option for the 2019-20 season, and this offseason he will be eligible for a $219 million supermax extension. Wright reports that management and some of the players will have a say on whether or not to offer Leonard the extension, but the final decision will come from ownership.
Wright also notes how last offseason there was growing concern about what All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge's role would be with the team and if he wanted to be traded, but after meeting with Popovich, Aldridge and the organization walked away feeling better about his future in San Antonio.
Leonard, 26, has only played in at least 70 games twice in his seven-career, although his rookie season was the lockout-shortened 66-game season, in which he played in 64 games.
