Even six years and an period later, the Spurs nonetheless can’t fairly escape the drama that Kawhi Leonard introduced on the group when he sat out a lot of the 2017-18 season, allowed his entourage in charge and disparage the Spurs’ medical workers for what turned out to be an correct analysis, and at last pressured a commerce in the summertime of 2018. This led the Spurs right into a sluggish and at occasions painful rebuild, however they obtained their man in Victor Wembanyama and have moved on — or so we thought.
Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo, a former coach whose ties to Leonard date all the way in which again to his time at San Diego State has filed a lawsuit towards the Los Angeles Clippers group for wrongful termination and is threatening to reveal the crew for subjecting Leonard “to unsafe and unlawful therapy, in disregard for Leonard’s well being and security and recognized medical restrictions.” The Clippers have unsurprisingly denied these allegations, saying:
“Mr. Shelton’s claims have been investigated and located to be with out benefit. We honored Mr. Shelton’s employment contract and paid him in full. This lawsuit is a belated try to shake down the Clippers primarily based on accusations that Mr. Shelton ought to know are false.”
It’s doable that Shelton — who continued to work with Leonard within the offseasons after he left SDSU all they approach till he was employed by the Clippers from 2019-2023 — is only a bitter former worker. Nonetheless, whereas allegations of doable medical mistreatment could give Spurs followers a little bit of deja vu (though on this case, it’s not coming from the participant), that’s not essentially the most notable half because it pertains to Spurs. To again up his allegations, Shelton has mentioned he’s keen to sit down down with the league focus on how the Clippers tampered with Leonard whereas he was nonetheless underneath contract with the Spurs. Per ESPN:
Within the lawsuit, Shelton mentioned the Clippers first contacted him in 2017 after Leonard, who was then underneath contract with the Spurs, suffered a extreme ankle damage in Sport 1 of the 2017 Western Convention finals towards the Golden State Warriors.
That damage ended Leonard’s postseason, and he missed the primary 27 video games of the following season with a proper quadriceps damage. Leonard’s damage and subsequent rehab created a rift with the Spurs, main him to hunt a second opinion exterior of the group.
Starting in 2017, whereas Leonard remained underneath contract with the Spurs, Shelton mentioned a Clippers govt contacted him to hunt “non-public well being info” about Leonard and expressed the necessity for “discretion.” The 2 sides spoke roughly 15 occasions on the cellphone and had a minimum of seven conferences, in accordance with the lawsuit, because the Clippers sought to be taught extra about Leonard’s contractual obligations with the Spurs and his medical state of affairs…
In his conversations, Shelton mentioned the Clippers govt “mentioned bringing Shelton into the Clippers’ group as a energy and conditioning coach, given the private relationship and belief that Leonard had in Shelton.”…
Shelton alleges that the Clippers’ recruiting efforts have been in “disregard for the NBA’s prohibitions on tampering.” Article 35 of the NBA’s structure prohibits groups from “instantly or not directly” making an attempt to entice gamers underneath contract with one crew to hitch a distinct crew.
Once more, this in all probability isn’t all that shocking to Spurs followers contemplating how massive of a hand Uncle Dennis (nee Robertson) reportedly had in forcing the false narratives towards the Spurs’ medical workers to justify asking for a commerce from a seemingly good state of affairs, but when something coming from Shelton’s lawsuit finally ends up being remotely true concerning the tampering, there could possibly be penalties to pay. Generally that’s accomplished through fines or a crew dropping draft picks (though the Clippers even don’t personal their very own first spherical decide till 2030 — they’re in bother).
The Spurs would in all probability simply as fortunately settle for a public acknowledgement from anybody in Leonard’s hemisphere that they have been wrongfully accused, resulting in a dent of their as soon as sterling repute within the eyes of many. Which will or could not occur, and it may end up that it is a massive nothing-burger introduced on by somebody with an axe to grind, but when nothing else, it’s but another excuse to query Leonard’s motivations again in 2018 and can hopefully make those that nonetheless criticize the Spurs for the saga to rethink. (As a result of apparently his ongoing points with a CHRONIC knee situation — which the Spurs recognized — hasn’t been proof sufficient.)
Oh, and it in all probability gained’t assist with Gregg Popovich’s want to silence the boo birds.
