The San Antonio Spurs and Kawhi Leonard's relationship is sour right now, to say the least. Leonard has missed all but nine games this season and the Spurs feel that he could've returned to play months ago. Tony Parker even went after Kawhi in the media stating that the quad injury that he came back from was "a hundred times worse" and that he rehabbed harder in order to come back before Kawhi did.
Leonard's situation is unparalleled as he has gone from a player that was seen as a universally beloved superstar and one of the hardest working guys in the league. To a guy who is seen as being selfish and hurting his team. People started to question whether the Spurs should re-sign him when free agency came around and reports started to come out the rest of the NBA was circling like vultures in order to try to trade for Kawhi. Well unfortunately for Spurs fans the bad news doesn't stop.
Time to leave?
Former NBA player Nate Robinson reported on the Holdat podcast that "From what I heard, from a little birdie, what I heard that the reason why he doesn't, not that he doesn't want to play, is that he doesn't want to be in San Antonio no more, is because that i heard a big bag was coming but if he doesn't leave San Antonio that bag is not coming".
What Robinson is essentially saying is that some company has a large sponsorship deal lined up with Leonard but the company in question does not want to pay major money to an athlete in a small market.
Money, money, money
This argument does seem to at least have a little weight to it. Leonard has been in a very public battle with Jordan brand over his shoe deal. Leonard and the Nike affiliate where close to a deal that was reportedly worth 20 million dollars when negotiations stalled because Leonards camp felt the deal didn't match up when compared to the deals other players of his caliber got. Leonard a 2x First Team All NBA, 2x Defensive Player of the Year, and 3x All-Defensive First Team selection will make less than $500,000 total on his current deal with Jordan so turning this down was significant.
When comparing Kawhi's deal to that of other NBA stars there is a clear gap. Kevin Durant and James Harden both have recently signed deals worth upwards of 250 million, while Lebron James is reportedly on a lifetime contract with Nike worth 1 billion dollars. If what Robinson said holds true and Kawhi goes from a 20 million dollar contract to something more comparable to other superstars it would have major implications on the future decisions the NBA stars make in free agency.