Report: Pop, Kawhi have kept in touch since trade

While it's been reported there was a fracture between Kawhi Leonard and the San Antonio Spurs prior to his trade to the Toronto Raptors, Gregg Popovich has remained in touch with the 2014 Finals MVP, league sources told ESPN's Michael C. Wright.

Last November, Popovich stated that Leonard "wasn't a leader," but Wright notes they've maintained contact through text messages.

"They won a championship there," Scottie Pippen said on ESPN's The Jump. "He was the MVP. And as Pop said, sometimes in your career things go differently ... I feel like it's mended between coach Pop and Kawhi."

Leonard was booed every time he touched the ball in his return to San Antonio last Thursday, with fans breaking out chants of "traitor" and "Uncle Dennis" at different points of the game.

The home crowd's treatment of Leonard didn't sit well with Popovich.

"I felt badly about it. Kawhi's a high-character guy," Popovich said, according to The Athletic's Jabari Young. "We all make decisions in our lives with what we're gonna do with our futures, and he has that same right as any of us."

After the highly-anticipated matchup, Popovich and Leonard shared a special moment.