Was Gregg Popovich Throwing Shade At Kawhi Leonard With Praise For LaMarcus Aldridge?

Gregg Popovich’s press conference after Game 1 of the first round of the Western Conference playoffs got a decent amount of attention, but what he said after Game 2 was even more newsworthy.

After his San Antonio Spurs lost to the Golden State Warriors 116-101 Monday night, he lauded his team’s effort. He singled out LaMarcus Aldridge for heavy praise, and in doing so may have been throwing some serious shade at injured star Kawhi Leonard.

Here’s Pop’s press conference in full:

Here’s the section about Aldridge:

"“He doesn’t complain about a darn thing. … He plays through everything. I can’t imagine being more proud of a player as far as playing through adversity and being there for his teammates night after night after night.”"

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out exactly what Popovich is doing with those comments. He’s repeatedly thrown shade at Leonard for not playing when his team desperately needs him. It’s clear the relationship is fractured, if not completely broken.