When the San Antonio Spurs won the 2013-14 NBA title, the organization decided to celebrate Stanley Cup style, giving each player three days with the Larry O’Brien Trophy and do with it what they pleased. Considering the majority of the Spurs’ roster is comprised of international players, the trophy jetted off to various corners of the world: Argentina (Manu Ginobili), Australia (Patty Mills, Aron Baynes), Brazil (Tiago Splitter), Italy (Marco Belinelli), France (Tony Parker, Boris Diaw), Canada (Corey Joseph), and, um, a music festival in New Hampshire (Matt Bonner). As one of the few American players on the roster, the trophy didn’t have to travel far to get to Kawhi Leonard, who had it delivered to his condo in San Diego — where it collected dust for all three days while the Finals MVP conducted intense three-a-day workouts:
“I didn’t have any time to do anything with it,” Leonard explained. “My workout schedule is crazy.”
Kawhi did take the trophy to his basketball camp on the final day, but anything beyond that was a no-go:
“I’m just a low-key guy,” he said. “I’m just happy we won it. I don’t even care about the trophy. The title matters the most.”
Probably the happiest guy of all was the Spurs staffer assigned to watch over the trophy. Instead of having to monitor it in a crowded bar or nightclub, he got a few free lounge days at the hotel pool out of the deal. Also, in fairness to Kawhi, he does have that Finals MVP trophy he can party with any time he wants.
[FTW]
