If there is tension building between Kawhi Leonard and his San Antonio Spurs teammates, don’t expect Danny Green to come out and admit it.
On Thursday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the Spurs held a players-only meeting in which Leonard was implored to return to the lineup for the stretch run and the postseason. Almost immediately after the report was published, Green laughed it off on Twitter and said it is completely inaccurate.
Couldn’t be anymore incorrect lol https://t.co/xo4yVyOvn2
— Danny Green (@DGreen_14) March 22, 2018
Wojnarowski is one of the most respected reporters in sports, and he has been citing sources for months who say there is tension within the Spurs organization surrounding Leonard’s lingering quad injury. Regardless of what Green says, some comments recently made by Manu Ginobili seemed to indicate there is frustration with Leonard.
“He is not coming back,” Ginobili told reporters recently. “For me, he’s not coming back because it’s not helping [to think Leonard is returning]. We fell for it a week ago again. I guess you guys made us fall for it. But we have to think that he’s not coming back, that we are who we are, and that we got to fight without him. That shouldn’t be changing, at least until he is ready for the jump ball.”
The Spurs have done their best to downplay the previous rumblings about in-house issues, so it’s no surprise Green is rolling with that narrative. However, there has simply been too much smoke at this point for there to be no fire.
