Kawhi Leonard has spent most of his career treating cameras and microphones like an inconvenience. He has gone years without an Instagram account, once explaining that he doesn’t use social media, and even his laugh became a meme precisely because so little of his personality ever reached the public. That reputation is exactly why his latest comments stand out.

Leonard told reporters he’s become noticeably more active and expressive on social platforms lately. He gave a simple reason why: the end of his career is now something he can see coming.

“I could retire in the next four or five years,” Leonard said, according to Joseph Casciaro, adding that the shift pushed him to start showing more of himself while he still can.

It’s a rare moment of self-awareness from a player who has spent a decade deflecting retirement questions, including controversial ones from analysts like Kendrick Perkins during his injury-heavy stretches with the Clippers. This time, the timeline is coming from Kawhi Leonard himself, not outside speculation.

Leonard’s return to Toronto also came with its own financial hit. The NBA fined him $700,000 following a year-long investigation into salary cap circumvention involving the Clippers, who were separately hit with a $30 million fine, suspensions and the forfeiture of five first-round picks.

Kawhi Leonard avoided a suspension or contract voidance, clearing the way for the trade that sent him back to the franchise he once led to a championship. That outcome let the deal with Toronto go through as planned, bringing Leonard back in exchange for Brandon Ingram, Gradey Dick and draft compensation.

Leonard has said he fully expects to retire a Raptor, even waiving a $7.4 million trade kicker to make the move happen.

Here’s the rest of the NBA roundup.

Ryan Nembhard Finds a Fourth Home in Five Months

Few players have had an offseason as chaotic as Ryan Nembhard’s. The Denver Nuggets and the guard have agreed to a two-way deal, league sources told HoopsHype, closing out a stretch that started with a two-game Summer League stint for the Dallas Mavericks in July.

Nembhard was then traded to the Atlanta Hawks as part of the package that brought Zaccharie Risacher to Dallas. He was traded again to the Charlotte Hornets in a deal involving Buddy Hield, and waived shortly after.

Denver is now Nembhard’s fourth team since July, but his track record explains why a roster still found room for him. He averaged 6.6 points and 5.3 assists in 60 games, including 27 starts, for the Mavericks last season after converting his rookie two-way deal into a standard contract.

The Nuggets needed backup point guard depth behind the trio of KJ Simpson, Bryce Hopkins and Cam Whitmore. Nembhard’s performance against Denver last season, including a 23-assist game that broke a franchise rookie record.

Cooper Flagg Has Added 23 Pounds Since His Rookie Debut

Cooper Flagg is walking into his second season noticeably bigger than the player who entered the league last fall. He reported to training camp at 228 pounds, up from the 205 he weighed during his rookie training camp, a 23-pound gain built around his stated offseason priority.

His personal trainer, Matt MacKenzie, said after Flagg’s Rookie of the Year campaign that adding muscle through the weight room and his diet was goal number one, with an expectation of roughly 10 pounds of added lean mass.

That wasn’t the only difference in the former Duke star. Flagg’s listed height has bounced around for two years, officially measured at 6-foot-7¾ barefoot at the 2025 NBA Draft Combine despite a Duke bio that had him at 6-foot-9.

At Mavericks media day, he told reporters that he now measures 6-foot-10 barefoot, up from the 6-foot-9 he was listed at last season. “I was like 6-9 last year, so definitely taller,” Flagg said, before joking he might be 6-foot-11.

Scouting services couldn’t agree on his height out of high school either, forcing outlets to average conflicting numbers just to settle on a listing. Combined with the added bulk, Flagg now shows up on paper as both bigger and taller than the player Dallas drafted first overall, even if exactly how much of that is real remains an open question.

Cooper Flagg averaged 21 points, 6.7 rebounds and 4.5 assists last season. He became the first player since Michael Jordan to lead his team in points, rebounds, assists and steals in a single season.