If you’ve been following the NBA closely this season, you know that Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs are reportedly not getting along very well right now.

The former Finals MVP and two-time Defensive Player of the Year was rumored to be unhappy with the organization dating as far back as January of 2018. Leonard, 26, is said to be discontent with the way the Spurs handled his quadriceps injury, which resulted in the two-time All-Star missing all but nine games of the 2017-18 NBA season. After returning from that quad injury to play those nine games, the Spurs decided to shut him down indefinitely on January 17th due to reoccurring soreness in his quad.

In addition to this, Leonard is also said to be upset about the team not supporting him during all of this, specifically head coach Gregg Popovich, who referred to Kawhi’s “group” in an apparent frustrated tone numerous times, and Tony Parker, who claimed his own quadriceps injury was “100 times worse” than Leonard’s.

Although there were reports two weeks ago that the Spurs and Leonard were attempting to mend their relationship and agree to an extension, on June 15th ESPN’s Chris Haynes leaked that Leonard had officially demanded a trade. While Popovich and Leonard did finally meet and talk on June 19th, the current belief is that Leonard still wants out.

Leonard himself has been very quiet during all of this, and has let his uncle/business manager Dennis Robertson and the group around him handle the bulk of it. Robertson, a former banking professional, is said to be trying to convince his nephew to either force a trade to the Los Angeles Lakers, or sign with them when he becomes a free agent in the summer of 2019.

While plenty of rumors have been flying during the season and since the news broke a couple weeks ago that Leonard officially wants out – don’t be surprised if this story doesn’t come to a conclusion for a long, long time.

Many thought that the Spurs might look to trade Leonard last week during the NBA Draft in order to get back prospects in return. However, the team appears fully committed to trying to work things out with him. They have made it clear that they are in no rush to trade him.

And really, they shouldn’t be. After all, they can offer him the most money out of anyone (five years, $219 million, to be exact). If Leonard were to be traded this season to another team, the most that team could offer him next year would be $188 million (a $31 million decrease). However, if he were to decline the $219 extension and spend this entire next year with the Spurs, the most he could sign with any other team next summer as an unrestricted free agent would be $139 million (an $80 million decrease). And, when you add in the tax incentives Leonard would lose out on leaving the state of Texas, the discrepancies become even greater.

While many NBA analysts and fans are thirsty to see a Leonard trade happen soon in order to spice up the upcoming free agency period and set the wheels in motion for everything else – I wouldn’t count on it.

The Spurs have always erred on the side of caution. They value continuity and keeping their guys happy above all else. Even though things are less than ideal between them and Leonard right now, Popovich and co. are no stranger to these types of situations. Just last year, All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge demanded a trade from the organization. The media convinced everyone that Aldridge would be traded during the summer. Instead, Aldridge sat down with Popovich, hashed things out, and ended up signing a three-year extension with the team.

Granted, this situation is more severe and there are more layers involved in the sense of outside advice and other people pulling the strings, but it’s not a totally impossible hurdle to overcome.

One thing’s for sure – the Spurs are in no hurry to get rid of Leonard. They know how valuable he is to their team, and they feel very strongly that with him on their squad that they can still contend for a title. The last time Leonard was fully healthy, he was firing on all cylinders in Game 1 of the 2017 Western Conference Finals, leading the charge for the Spurs (who were up 21) against the Golden State Warriors on their home floor before being undercut by Zaza Pachulia and sidelined for the rest of the year. The Spurs would go on to lose that series 4-0. Even though they got swept, their front office remains convinced that if Leonard would have been healthy for that series, they would have had a shot to upset the Warriors, and also take the title that year.

While holding on to Leonard for the time being might eventually hurt his trade stock if he is to be traded one day, it’s a risk the Spurs are willing to take. And it’s absolutely the right call.