NBA - Main

You really should know about this, but he was diagnosed by the Spurs with a degenerative knee (the correct diagnosis) and eventually cleared to play. However, Kawhi and his "camp," most notably his uncle, found this unfavorable for his career and began to seek numerous second opinions with other doctors in order to finally conclude on something more desirable. This led to Kawhi leading the Spurs on and saying that he'd "be back soon" but to never come back. Additionally, his uncle demanded an office job with the Spurs and was refused, starting a domino effect that resulted in his uncle effectively stating that his nephew no longer wanted to play with the franchise and Kawhi began to completely ghost the Spurs organization at this point. (see incident of Spurs execs looking for him in a hotel.) He and his camp then decided to completely nuke his trade value resulting in a trade that propelled the Spurs out of contention. It is also notable that his uncle has since been investigated for demanding certain things, such as a private plane and part ownership of the team, from both the Clippers and Lakers organizations in order for them to have the opportunity to sign his nephew. Anyone in here claiming the Spurs were at complete fault is either willfully ignorant or wrong.