Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard was hearing it from the San Antonio Spurs fans who used to cheer him as he stepped to the free-throw line Wednesday night.
While the booing is perhaps not entirely rational, it’s also not surprising. Leonard, after all, demanded a trade in 2018 and was shipped out of town amid an ongoing injury saga and with his free agency looming.
But one man in the arena was not a fan of the boos directed at the 2014 NBA Finals MVP and he decided to do something about it
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich grabbed the public address mic with Leonard at the line in the second quarter and implored the fans at the Frost Bank Center to stop the booing.
‘Excuse me for a second. Please stop all the booing and let these guys play. It’s got no class, it’s not who we are. Knock off the booing,’ Popovich said.
Popovich’s announcement didn’t appear to have the desired effect. His words were immediately greeted with both cheers and boos as he walked back to the Spurs’ bench. Then, Spurs fans booed even louder and continued to boo Leonard and other Clippers players throughout the game.
“Anybody that knows anything about sports knows you don’t poke the bear,” Popovich said after the game, which the Clippers won 109-102.
The Spurs acquired Leonard in a draft-night trade in 2011. He spent seven seasons with San Antonio and was awarded the 2014 NBA Finals MVP after the Spurs knocked off LeBron James and the Miami Heat in five games to win their fifth championship. Leonard went on to earn All-Star berths in 2016 and 2017, but his tenure with San Antonio came to a rocky end and he played just nine games in the 2017-18 season due to injury.
Leonard was traded to the Toronto Raptors in the summer of 2018 and promptly led the Raptors to their first NBA championship before departing for the Clippers in free agency in 2019. The Spurs, who got back DeMar DeRozan, Jakob Poeltl and a first-round pick (they selected Keldon Johnson) have not won a playoff series since Leonard’s departure. They haven’t made the playoffs at all since 2019 and at 3-12 — even with top pick Victor Wembanyama — it seems unlikely they’ll return this season.
Still, it’s clear Popovich has affection for his former star … even if the fans in San Antonio don’t.
Popovich didn’t like that Leonard got booed all night when Leonard returned to San Antonio for the first time as an opponent in January 2019.
‘I felt badly about it,’ Popovich said after that Jan. 3, 2019 game. ‘Kawhi’s a high-character guy. We all make decisions in our lives about what we’re going to do with our futures and he has that same right as any of us. So, I felt badly, honestly.’
Based on his actions Wednesday night, it seems Popovich still feels that way.
