Kawhi Leonard on Gregg Popovich: 'We've Been in Too Many Battles to Have a Scar'

Kawhi Leonard said there is no bad blood between him and San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich after the Los Angeles Clippers star faced his old team Sunday.

Leonard scored 11 points as the Clippers earned a 119-97 win over the Spurs on Saturday.

The 31-year-old spent his first seven seasons in San Antonio, helping the team win a championship in 2014. The relationship still didn't end well, with injuries limiting Leonard to just nine games in 2017-18 before a trade to the Toronto Raptors the following offseason.

It's clear Leonard has plenty of respect for Popovich, a three-time NBA Coach of the Year who will go down as one of the best in league history.

The 73-year-old Indiana native has led San Antonio to five NBA championships since taking over the job early in the 1996-97 campaign. The team's most recent title came in 2014.

Popovich, who coached the United States national team to a gold medal in the 2021 Summer Olympics, owns a 1,350-712 record (.655 winning percentage) in the regular season and a 170-114 mark (.599) in the playoffs.

He's been guiding the Spurs through a period of transition, with the 2018-19 season being the first without at least one of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili on the roster since 1996-97.

That's why extending the franchise's playoff streak to a record-tying 22 years required one of his best coaching jobs to date in 2018-19.

In an era dominated by three-point shooting and star power, the Spurs managed to earn the seventh seed in the loaded Western Conference with a 48-34 record despite being led by DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge, two players who rely heavily on mid-range jumpers, and no other All-Stars.

The terrific run came to an end when they missed the postseason during the coronavirus-shortened 2019-20 campaign and again in 2020-21. They returned after earning a play-in tournament bid in 2021-22, but a 6-11 start to this year could make it difficult to earn another postseason appearance.

The coach is well-respected across the league, including, it seems, among former players like Leonard.