Spurs disrespect Kawhi Leonard but avoid bad press

When it was initially reported that Fox would wear No. 2, Spurs longtime announcer Don Harris claimed that Fox (No. 2) and Victor Wembanyama (No. 1) would keep the legacy of Tim Duncan (No. 21) alive by creating an Area 21 tandem in San Antonio. However, many of Leonard's fans felt Fox hadn't done enough to earn the jersey number of the player who was once the face of the franchise. 

Another theory doing the rounds was that the Spurs deliberately offered Fox the No. 2 to erase the legacy of Leonard, the player who many accused of "quitting" on the franchise in 2018. To this day, there's no love lost between Leonard and Spurs fans, with the latter continuing to boo "The Klaw" in his returns to San Antonio. 

The Spurs need to do right by Leonard and retire his No. 2 jersey — to avoid situations like the one with Fox. Regardless of his tumultuous exit from the franchise, he did help it capture a fifth championship in 2014 and kept it in title contention through his final season. 

Leonard has done enough to warrant a jersey retirement, considering past Spurs in the rafters. Besides legends like George Gervin, David Robinson, Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, the Spurs have also retired the jerseys of Bruce Bowen (career 6.1 PPG), Sean Elliott (career 14.2 PPG) and Avery Johnson (career 8.4 PPG). No disrespect to the latter three, but they were career role players unlike Leonard, a bona fide superstar and difference-maker.