Kawhi Leonard: How the money and the injury will determine his future

SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the San Antonio Spurs looks on from the bench against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game at Golden 1 Center on October 27, 2016 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SACRAMENTO, CA - OCTOBER 27: Kawhi Leonard #2 of the San Antonio Spurs looks on from the bench against the Sacramento Kings during the first quarter of an NBA basketball game at Golden 1 Center on October 27, 2016 in Sacramento, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images) /
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Injury History  

Leonard did not miss time at San Diego State, but here is his pro-history of missing regular season action:

Total Games Missed:

145 out of a possible 552

BREAKDOWN BY GAMES MISSED:

Quadriceps Injury: 92

Right Hand: 31 (a break one year, and some ligament damage the next)

Calf: 5

Rest: 5 (knowing his coach, surprisingly low isn’t it?)

Illness: 4 (one of these was from a Philly cheesesteak)

Shoulder: 3 (three games missed this year were attributed to a partially torn shoulder from Jan. 7th. Check out the 6:25 mark in the 4th quarter and you can see him protect his left shoulder with a slick one armed rebound, broadcaster Sean Elliot noticed something odd there too).

Left Hand: 2

Dental Procedure: 1

Eye (Conjunctivitis): 1

Concussion Protocol: 1

(Note: Early in his career the quad issue was classified as “right knee/quad tendinitis” and at one point “Jumper’s Knee.” A few times he’s had “quad contusions” included here, and eventually either “Tendinopathy” or “Return from Injury Management.” We’re putting all of these injuries to the same body part in the “Quad” category).

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  • He missed 24 total games his sophomore year with the quad. One stretch that year was 18 in a row, and the final six sprinkled in through year’s end. It came out that he struggled with it throughout that entire year, and because of that he has turned down tempting offers to participate in USA basketball events. It wasn’t until two summers later that he’d say it was 100 percent.

    More recently, he dealt with some “quad contusions” (three games missed in ’15-’16 and one in ’16-’17). Fast forward to the 2017 summer when we learned he’d miss extended time with an injury that had eventually graduated to a “tendinopathy”- a “diseased tendon.” In September, Gregg Popovich revealed that the injury was “left over from last season and that he has been rehabbing it all summer.”

    If true this would mean that this chronic, vicious injury has now cost him 92 games and nagged or limited him in many more over his career.

    In his last three playoff series, injuries may have limited him as well. He finished a subpar 13-44 from the field over his final three games vs the Clippers in 2015, a year he struggled with ligament damage in his shooting hand. The following year, it was a knee to the leg by Enes Kanter, then on Oklahoma City, that seemed to limit his performance at times.

    And finally, it was the string of ankle injuries that cost him critical games against Houston and Golden State last year, which eventually shut him down for good in the Western Conference Finals of 2017.

    So what inferences can we make based on these financial incentives, injury history, and now recent reports about the possibly strained relationship between team and player?