Former NBA player Jalen Rose

Former NBA player Jalen Rose, now an ESPN personality, made a bold claim on Tuesday morning's First Take. "I hate to say this," Rose said. "Kawhi Leonard wants out of San Antonio, is what I'm hearing."

The statement from Rose came on the heels of an ESPN article Monday from NBA reporters Adrian Wojnarowski and Michael C. Wright. They reported that Leonard's relationship with the team had chilled significantly amid his rehab from a quadriceps injury, with the All-NBA forward growing "distant" and "disconnected" during a stop-and-go year. The franchise and Leonard's camp both denied the reports of tension.

Earlier this month, the Spurs announced Leonard was out indefinitely.

Rose talked about the injury and the tension surrounding Leonard's return to the court, but he also suggested a big reason the forward wants to leave is San Antonio's struggles to acquire great teammates. Rose put some of the blame for that on head coach Gregg Popovich—widely considered one of the greatest coaches of all time—who has installed a system that emphasizes the team over the individual.

"They've been unable to attract elite-level, All-NBA-caliber free agents to come play with him," Rose said on First Take. "We always talk about [players] going to join large market teams: 'Who's going to L.A.? Who's going to New York? What's going on in Philly?' We never say, 'Who's going to San Antonio to play with Kawhi?' And here's why I think players have not done that: 'The Spurs Way' looks like opportunity dressed in overalls. It looks like work. People really don't want that. Players talk about wanting to win and wanting to be a champion, but ultimately they want to do it on their own terms. And when you go to San Antonio guess who's the CEO of the organization: Gregg Popovich. It's going to be his way."
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