When Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs drifted apart, some of the blame was placed upon Kawhi’s uncle, Dennis Robertson. ‘Uncle Dennis’ is also one of Kawhi’s closest confidants and a chief advisor to the star.
Although he rarely speaks in public, Uncle Dennis spoke to Yahoo Sports’ Chris Haynes in an in-depth interview, offering insight into Kawhi’s mindset entering the Finals and regarding the city of Toronto.
Raps fans may be pleased to know that even though Kawhi first came to Toronto with some hesitancy, he speaks highly of the city now. (He stay?)
It probably isn’t something to read too much into, but considering the usual quiet on this front, a glimpse into the mind of Kawhi is always interesting.
Uncle Dennis also discussed Kawhi’s split from the Spurs, as well as his mindset entering the Finals.
“I think it just became a lack of trust,” Robertson told Yahoo Sports. “The [Spurs] didn’t believe Kawhi couldn’t play and that caused a lack of trust in us and then us not believing in them. Any time a player says he’s not capable of playing, you should believe him. Why would Kawhi just stop playing all of a sudden? He’s a competitor. Sometimes you get these team doctors telling you what you can and cannot do, and Kawhi was just in too much pain to get out there. This was a serious issue. They didn’t believe him, and after that, the relationship couldn’t recover and we decided we had to move on.”
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“I can’t get into other free agents and other teams, but for Kawhi, he’s going to take it one day and one game at a time,” Robertson told Yahoo Sports. “We have a championship opportunity in front of us. We’re not thinking about free agency; it’s the Warriors [right now]. Once we get through the season, we’ll turn our attention to free agency. But we’re just having fun right now. This has been a great year.”
h/t Yahoo Sports
