Kawhi Leonard Isn't Mad, He's Actually Laughing About Gregg Popovich's Dig

Raptors forward Kawhi Leonard, a man who has laughed at least eight times in his life, got in a good ninth chuckle on Sunday, when Spurs coach Gregg Popovich criticized his former player’s leadership abilities.

“Kawhi was a great player, but he wasn’t a leader or anything,” Pop said before the Spurs lost to the Bucks on Saturday. “Kawhi’s talent will always be missed, but that leadership wasn’t his deal at that time.”

Leonard, who missed all of last year with the Spurs for mysterious reasons but is currently leading the 17-4 Raptors in points, rebounds and steals, responded by invoking that classic Kawhi sense of humor we all know and love.

“I heard about it. It’s just funny to me because, you know, I don’t know if he’s talking about last year or not, but I guess when you stop playing they forget how you lead,” Leonard said.

Kawhi’s right that his entire overly complicated drama with San Antonio last year, and the way it blew up his relationship with the most respected coach in the league, and the fact that it could possibly happen again late in the season when he decides to leave Toronto, is all pretty humorous when you look at it a certain way. But for Spurs fans, it’s more of the “laugh to keep from crying” variety of funny. Kawhi’s quite familiar with that: