KAWHI Leonard’s current predicament with the San Antonio Spurs is a harsh reminder of how fragile the basketball industry can be.

One year, you could be winning an NBA Finals MVP trophy; two seasons later, and an injury could catalyse the end of your time at one of the league’s 'posterchildren' franchises.

For Patty Mills, Leonard’s low-key yet extremely productive Australian teammate, there are still a lot of questions surrounding the superstar wing’s sudden rift with the franchise, and the reminder of how quickly things can shift in the volatile NBA.

“Getting to this point now, you look back; I don’t know what we could’ve done better,” Mills told foxsports.com.au, of Leonard’s situation.

Friday September 25th

“Don’t know what we could’ve done to help the situation, if it would’ve helped at all. This is basketball and, at the end of the day, it’s a reminder that it is a business, and a lot of money is involved with it.”

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Leonard and Mills have been teammates since 2012, with the pair naturally developing a bond over their time in San Antonio.

The 2017-18 season was what apparently pushed Leonard over the edge with the franchise; a right quadriceps injury plagued the vast majority of his season, with complications from the injury causing tension between the two parties.

Leonard has since requested a trade, leaving many in the Spurs locker room wonder where it all went wrong.

“You don’t know, really,” Mills said on Friday evening at an Under Armour event, prior to joining a training session for some of NSW’s best young basketball players.

“You go through a season and, obviously, you’re teammates for a reason, and you want what’s best for your teammate. Throughout the season, it was making sure he felt 100 percent before he returned.

“If that’s what he felt, me as a teammate, my job is to be there for him, and I was, as well as everyone else.”

Patty Mills, pictured in Sydney at a training session at Trinity Grammar School. Picture: David Swift. Source: News Corp Australia

The injury Leonard suffered through, along with a plethora of changes on the Spurs’ roster, saw Mills take on an increased role, averaging career-highs in minutes per game, as well as playing a full 82 games for the first time in his career.

The Canberra-native averaged 10 points and 2.8 assists a game, and will likely be tasked with carrying a similar load when the 2018-19 season rolls around, considering Leonard’s desire to play elsewhere.

Despite the likelihood that Leonard will end up at one of the Los Angeles franchises, Mills is confident that his relationship with the quiet star won’t be altered.

“At the end of the day, the relationship I have with him, just like anyone else, it wouldn’t affect it,” Mills said. “What happened is what happened, and we’ll still catch up and hang out whenever we see each other, if that does happen. Obviously, we don’t know what’s going to happen, and we’ll all wait to see how it unfolds.”

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Olgun Uluc covers basketball for Fox Sports Australia. Twitter: @OlgunUluc