NBA San Antonio Spurs

San Antonio Spurs Not Giving Kawhi Leonard the Max Now Is Nothing To Worry About

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By @DSchultz89

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Kawhi Leonard seems like another player who might remain with the San Antonio Spurs for his entire career, but the two parties are reportedly not likely to come to an agreement on an extension right now. The deadline for an extension to be signed is Friday, Oct. 31.

If the Spurs do not sign Leonard to an extension now, he will become a restricted free agent after this season, in which the Spurs will be able to match any potential offer sheet he may sign with another team, including the maximum.

Personally, I believe Leonard is worth the maximum. He was a huge reason as to why the Spurs absolutely dominated the Miami Heat in the last three games of the NBA Finals and went on to win the championship. He won the Finals MVP for not just his offensive explosion, but also for his phenomenal defense on superstar LeBron James. He just turned 23 years old this summer, and the way he carries himself both on and off the floor reminds many people of his teammate, Tim Duncan.

Throw in the fact that the league’s projected salary cap is expected to rise from $63 million to $81 million, a dramatic increase, and the Spurs should be able to afford Leonard at this price. After all, they have convinced their “Big Three” of Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to sign for a lot less than what they are probably worth on the open market, and head coach Gregg Popovich has said repeatedly that Leonard will be the next star moving forward for the team.

So why is the team being so hesitant to offer Leonard the max?

Personally, I believe this is a motivational tactic by Popovich and the front office. They probably believe that Leonard is a max-level player. He demonstrated this not only during this year’s Finals, but in the 2013 NBA Finals as well where he was downright incredible. When the playoffs come around, Leonard ups his game and accepts guarding the best perimeter player on the floor, which is a huge advantage for the Spurs.

But why has he not shown this same aggression and confidence during the regular season? Granted, Popovich has a tendency to “rest” his players and be very conservative with their minutes, but Leonard has yet to put up an All-Star worthy regular season yet, which almost seems like a requirement if you consider yourself worthy of the maximum. He has steadily improved each year, but the Spurs would love to see the Leonard they just saw in the playoffs for the entire year, not just the postseason.

Too many times we have seen players get huge paydays and never be the same because it was the money they were playing for the whole time. Leonard does not strike me as one of those players, as the intense training he did this past summer indicates just how serious he is about his game.

This holdout on the Spurs’ part shows that they want to continue to motivate him to accept more responsibility and become a top-level talent in this league this season.

Leonard will most likely be a Spur for life given the incredible success he has experienced early on, coupled with his strong relationship with the team and Popovich. Even if they do not come to an agreement on an extension in the next few days, I do not see this as a troubling sign moving forward. The team wants to continue to work with him; they just want to see him become the dominant beast they know he can become for an entire season before they inevitably give him the reward he desires.

Dan Schultz is an NBA sports writer for www.RantSports.com. Follow him on twitter @dschultz89. “Like” him on Facebook and add him on Google.

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