"I could have gone anywhere, but I trust my Spurs doctors" - Tony Parker called out Kawhi Leonard for making a big deal about his injury
By the spring of 2018, the San Antonio Spurs were still in the playoff mix, but basketball wasn't the only thing weighing on the franchise.
Behind the scenes, one of the NBA's most stable organizations was trying to keep from splintering. Gregg Popovich remained on the sideline. LaMarcus Aldridge was leading the team in scoring. Tony Parker had returned from a devastating injury to contribute off the bench.
But the biggest question was about Kawhi Leonard, and why he still wasn't playing.
The Klaw had suited up for only nine games all season. His right quadriceps injury, initially suffered during the 2017 Western Conference finals after a controversial closeout from Zaza Pachulia, had lingered well beyond what the team expected.
Same injury, different response
Parker knew what it was like to suffer a serious quad injury.
In May 2017, just days before Leonard went down in the playoffs, Parker tore his left quadriceps tendon during Game 2 of the Spurs' second-round series against the Houston Rockets. But Parker never looked outside the organization for answers. He leaned on the Spurs' medical team because he trusted that staff since he arrived in San Antonio as a teenager.
"I could have gone anywhere, but I trust my Spurs doctors," Parker said in March 2018. "They have been with me my whole career. They know my body better than anybody …I feel like we have the best medical team in the world."
Parker returned to the floor on Nov. 27, 2017, about 7 1/2 months after his surgery. Though he was no longer a starter, he played in 55 games and provided steady minutes off the bench. He'd gone through the grind, leaned on his rehab staff and bought into the process.
Tony didn't hold back when asked about Leonard's situation that spring.
"I've been through it," he said. "It was a rehab for me for eight months. Same kind of injury [as Leonard], but mine was a hundred times worse. But the same kind of injury. You just stay positive."
Parker clearly believed Leonard could have handled things differently. And he wasn't the only one in the locker room who felt that way.A fracture that never healed
By March, the tension had reached a boiling point. The Spurs were still competing, but the uncertainty around Leonard loomed large. According to then-ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski, a players-only meeting was held on Mar. 17, where several veterans, including Parker and Manu Ginobili, urged Leonard to rejoin the team.
Kawhi reportedly pushed back, saying he wasn't medically ready.
The 6'7" forward had spent weeks rehabbing away from the team, working with his own medical consultants in New York. The Spurs doctors had cleared him to play, but Leonard remained sidelined. The divide between his camp and the organization kept widening, and the team's leadership core didn't hide their frustration.
Popovich gave few details publicly but often deferred to "Kawhi and his group" when reporters asked for updates. His tone suggested that this wasn't just a matter of physical readiness. The Spurs, long known for doing things behind closed doors, were suddenly at the center of the NBA's biggest locker room drama.
Leonard never returned that season. He was officially ruled out for the year on Apr. 2. A few months later, San Antonio traded him to the Toronto Raptors in a deal that brought back DeMar DeRozan. It ended one of the most awkward and acrimonious departures in franchise history.
While Parker, a Finals MVP, was nearing the end of his Spurs tenure, he still embodied the values of loyalty and sacrifice on which the franchise had built itself. On the other hand, Leonard took control of his situation, prioritized his long-term health and walked away from a structure that didn't fit how he operated.
It's still debated whether Leonard made the right call. He went on to win a championship in Toronto and continued his career at an elite level. The Spurs had always prided themselves on being aligned, from the top down.
In 2018, for the first time maybe ever, the Spurs cracked internally.This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 27, 2025, where it first appeared.
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