SAN ANTONIO -- Privately, San Antonio Spurs officials readily admit they're not blameless in this fiasco.
But the club's pained decision to finally acquiesce to Kawhi Leonard's trade demand on Wednesday plunged the franchise deeper into the depths of a transitional period that it has long worked to stay ahead of.
Even before San Antonio moved Leonard (and Danny Green) to Toronto for a trade package involving DeMar DeRozan, several signs indicated the Spurs' 21-year run of consecutive postseasons could be in jeopardy. Spurs chairman and co-chief executive officer Julianna Hawn Holt filed for divorce from former chairman and CEO Peter Holt last December, though she told a local TV station that "the franchise is safe" and wouldn't be put up for sale.