Now that the biggest domino in the NBA has fallen and LeBron James is on the Los Angeles Lakers, all eyes turn to San Antonio to see how the Spurs will handle the Kawhi Leonard situation. With rumblings indicating Leonard wants to end up on the Lakers, some are wondering exactly when Los Angeles will acquire the superstar forward and have the makings of a superteam.
Still, a number of teams have been linked to Leonard outside of the Lakers, hoping for a potential Paul George situation where a player is linked to the Lakers but gets traded elsewhere and is eventually sold on what that team is doing. Of course, the entire premise is based on one thing: The purported desire Leonard has to play for the Lakers and their potential superteam.
According to a report by Shams Charania of Yahoo Sports, that might be overblown. Charania appeared on Colin Cowherd’s radio show and laid out that James going to Los Angeles might have cooled Leonard’s desire to join the Lakers. In response, Charania posits, this might help the chances of the other team in the City of Angels. (Head to the 27:23 mark for Charania’s entire answer to a question about where things stand with Leonard.)
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“I think, around Kawhi, what’s been made abundantly clear is there’s not an interest to go join a superteam,” Charania said. “I don’t think he’s jumping for joy that LeBron James is in L.A. with the Lakers, if anything, that’s gonna make him look maybe more toward the Clippers, because this is a guy that won Finals MVP against LeBron James, you think he’s amped up and wants to join LeBron now? I think that’s been overstated and the Spurs are beginning to realize that we might have a broadened market for him.”
There’s so much smoke around Leonard right now that it’s hard to tell what is real and what is, say, someone with a vested interest in his services trying to control the narrative around him. Either way, Leonard joining the Clippers, whether it be via a trade or in free agency next summer, would make the other team in Los Angeles rather upset.
(Via Clippersholics)
