Kawhi Leonard NBA Draft Rumors: Gregg Popovich Met With Spurs Star

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich reportedly traveled to Southern California to meet disgruntled star Kawhi Leonard before the NBA Draft on Thursday.

Leonard endured a tumultuous 2018 as a quadriceps injury in January limited him to a total of just nine appearances in the recently-concluded season.

The 2014 NBA Finals MVP was expected to return to action by mid-March but the prolonged delay along with how he handled his recovery seemingly put him at odds with Popovich, the front office and his teammates, as the Spurs eventually suffered a first-round exit in the playoffs to the Golden State Warriors with Leonard never returning.

Even still, with just one year remaining on his current contract, he was expected to sign a five-year $219 million supermax extension to continue playing his basketball with the five-time champions.

However, multiple reports claimed Friday that Leonard was looking to be traded away and was interested in a move to either the Lakers or the Clippers with both franchises being based in his hometown of Los Angeles — with a move to the former potentially setting up a union with LeBron James.

According to ESPN, the 26-year-old's preference is a move to the Lakers and he has privately maintained he does not want to remain in San Antonio or sit down with Popovich, even going as far as making himself difficult to reach.

Popovich meanwhile, has been trying to set up a meeting with Leonard for weeks to discuss the issues that have fractured the latter's relationship with everyone involved at the Spurs. The major issue for Leonard is how the franchise handled his injury along with public comments made by teammate Tony Parker and Popovich about his injury.

ESPN's league sources though, claim Popovich met with Leonard on Tuesday prior to the NBA Draft which takes place two days later, though there is nothing reported as of now about how the meeting went. The priority of the Spurs' officials is to work the issues out with Leonard which has been communicated to teams seeking trade talks.

However, the Spurs at the same time, have also encouraged teams to present an offer though they are still reluctant to give teams guidance on the players or packages that would interest them in a trade.

They are also unlikely to be interested in facilitating a deal that would see Leonard move to the Lakers, a Western Conference rival, while other teams interested are the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers.

Should Leonard not sign a new Spurs deal, he will become an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2019, allowing him to sign with any team of his preference.

The small forward led the Spurs to their fifth title in 2014 when they defeated a James-led Miami Heat side in the NBA Finals. A two-time All-Star as well as a two-time Defensive Player of the Year, he averaged 16.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists in the nine games he played for the Spurs last season.