San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Kawhi news spurs more shrugs than shouts
You can’t miss the varied expressions of Kawhi Leonard on the back-wall mural of Franky Diablos bar on the South Side.
One shows Leonard roaring a raging cry with a clenched fist, while another highlights Leonard’s signature doe-eyed stoicism as he holds a basketball. And at the center of the spray-paint triptych stands Leonard with a giant outstretched hand that’s earned him the nickname “The Klaw,” as his shadowed face looms almost unreadable.
They sure reflect the mixed feelings going on in the city he reportedly wants to leave.
News Friday of Leonard seeking a trade from the Spurs sent shock waves and snark across social media, both far and especially near in San Antonio. But when asked faceto-face how they felt about Leonard moving on from the franchise he’s called home
since his rookie year, many Spurs fans around town didn’t show heartbreak or betrayal but rather shrugged with acceptance and understanding.
Besides, most think it’s still too soon to tell just what face Leonard will put on when he ultimately makes his intentions known.
“Not everybody’s heart is in San Antonio,” said Rebecca Cardona, who was on the other side of that Leonard mural Friday night at Franky Diabolos with her boyfriend, Jonathan Salas. “We don’t know. This is just speculation. However, we want to wish him the best. And my gosh, he’s going to be successful no matter where he plays.”
A two-time Defensive Player of the Year, Leonard is a former All-Star and was the finals MVP in 2014.
“I’m not bitter,” said Salas, whose mood hardly matched his all-black Spurs cap. “Let him go and move on, and let’s get somebody else. Let’s chase that (championship) ring No. 6, you know?”
Like others at Franky Diablos, Cardona and Salas didn’t so much drown their sorrows as they did fuel their more philosophical musings on Leonard’s future.
“I’m a Kawhi fan. I’m not upset with him,” said one patron in a Franky Diablos T-shirt who didn’t wish to give his name. “He’s got to do what he’s got to do.”
But there were the barbs, too.
Eddie R. said people were wanting to know where the bonfires were, presumably to burn Leonard’s jersey as is tradition for sports stars who turn their back on their teams and fans.
And even Franky Diablos owner Franky Eureste said he’d hold a “paint party” for fans to let out their anger on the Leonard mural.
But mural artist Adrian De La Cruz said he has no hard feelings if Leonard leaves, and wished people wouldn’t take such a departure so personally.
“You gotta wait and see how it plays out,” the San Antonio native said, noting he wasn’t surprised to hear reports of Leonard wanting to leave the
Spurs considering he played just nine games last season and was absent from the bench during the playoffs.
De La Cruz said he’d gotten some messages to replace the Leonard mural with other Spurs greats, such as David Robinson and Avery Johnson.
And while he’d be happy to paint something else, De La Cruz said it also would be bittersweet because the Leonard mural was his first major wall work.
One Leonard mural that won’t get the brushoff: the head-shot of the hoops great on the side of Countdown City Cuts barbershop on South Flores Street.
“If we believed that (expletive) we would have taken it off already,” Countdown owner Steven Castilleja said, rocking a Spurs shirt as he clipped a customer’s hair.
Call it denial, common sense or both. The way Castilleja sees it, Leonard would be a fool to walk away from the Spurs being able to offer him a “supermax” contract worth $219 million.
“He can’t leave this city,” Castilleja said. “We made his ass.”
But Saturday at WalkOn’s Bistreaux & Bar in Hollywood Park, diners feasting on the eats and the many screens of World Cup soccer sounded as if they’d be OK if Leonard ended up elsewhere.
“I’m happy for him,” Kane Watson said in a booth across from his wife, Taneshia, and their 2-year-old son, K.J. “Honestly, I think the Spurs are going to be good no matter what.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” said Stephen Martin, who added he didn’t necessarily feel angry or betrayed but did wish there was more information out about Leonard, a sentiment shared by his wife, Pink.
Diane Swientek, eating with her 30-year-old daughter Alysse, said she was at first devastated by the news Leonard might leave the Spurs. Then she felt bad for him seeking a second opinion on the right quadriceps injury that kept him out of play for most of last season, and understood if maybe he wanted a fresh start elsewhere.
Still, the San Antonio native and hoops fan just couldn’t fathom Leonard walking away from such a winning NBA talent as Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, with whom Leonard won the NBA cham- pionship in 2014.
“I mean really, you’re going to leave Pop and go to Luke Walton?” Swientek said, referring to the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, mentioned as a possible destination for Leonard.
Things could change. Saturday, the San Antonio Express-News reported that Leonard had yet to meet with Popovich, who last summer talked Spurs forward LaMarcus Aldridge out of his trade request. And as the Express-News reported, Leonard still has two years left on a five-year, $94 million deal he signed with the team in 2015.
Whatever happens, the face of Kawhi Leonard is sure to live long in the heads and hearts of the Spurs faithful.
Though at least one fan who’s extra-familiar with that face believes his hometown will try harder to convince Leonard to stay, and eventually get over any anger at Leonard if he leaves.
“You know San Antonio,” De La Cruz said.
“It’s a different breed of fans compared to anyone else.”