What will happen with Kawhi Leonard this summer? That seems to be the biggest question in the NBA that doesn’t involve LeBron James or the draft right now. The San Antonio Spurs’ All-Star forward has made it clear he wants to leave, and despite the fact that Gregg Popovich sat down with him in California on Tuesday, there’s no indication that’s going to change.
The Spurs can certainly hang onto Leonard until his contract is up next season and hope he signs a five-year, $219 million supermax deal with the team, but the smart move is almost certainly going to be trading him as long as he refuses to put pen to paper on an extension. A number of teams can make a move for him, but Leonard reportedly wants to head to his hometown of Los Angeles.
Specifically, reports indicate Leonard wants to end up on the Lakers. It remains to be seen if that happens via a trade for some of the team’s young assets, but according to Zach Lowe of ESPN, it might only be a matter of time until this occurs one way or another. Lowe wrote that there’s a belief that Leonard has already made up his mind on eventually wearing the purple and gold.
In theory, almost no team should pony up its best assets for a player who could bolt in a year without a nearly ironclad assurance he will re-sign. With Leonard, obtaining such assurance may not even be possible. No one knows whether they can trust the word of the advisors around him. There are deep suspicions that Leonard has already decided he wants to play for the Lakers.
It’s always important to remember that things can change, especially when you are being offered $219 million to play for an organization that wants you to be their centerpiece. Add in that Popovich is one year removed from working things out with another disgruntled star in LaMarcus Aldridge and perhaps Leonard will change his mind.
Still, Lowe isn’t the only ESPN reporter to bring this to light in the last day. Here’s what Ramona Shelburne and Adrian Wojnarowski wrote on Tuesday night regarding Leonard’s future.
Leonard wants a trade to Los Angeles, preferably the Lakers over the Clippers, league sources said. He has privately maintained that he no longer wants to play in San Antonio and will eventually alert rival teams considering trades for him that his intention is to sign in Los Angeles when he can become a free agent in 2019, league sources said.
This all would put the Spurs in a tough position — it can be hard to get solid value back for a guy who openly wants to play for one specific team, both because no one would theoretically sell the farm for him and because the team he would want to play for knows they can sit back and wait. Plus unless the Lakers get James this summer, they’re not exactly expected to win a ring in the next 12 months, so they can afford to be patient.
Of course, we’re one year removed from a very similar situation with Paul George. He wanted to leave Indiana, and not only did the Pacers get good value back (including an eventual All-Star in Victor Oladipo), but Oklahoma City now looks like it’s in a strong position to get George back in free agency. And for an added bonus, the team that it was assumed George wanted to eventually join last summer was none other than the Lakers.
Getting a player into a locker room and selling them on whatever they view as important for a year can change their plans. We’ll see if that ends up happening with Leonard, either in San Antonio or, if this report is true, with a team that isn’t in Los Angeles.
