It is widely know that Kawhi Leonard wants out of San Antonio and, despite the Los Angeles Lakers operating as only one theoretical destination for the All-Star forward, there is plenty of buzz that Leonard would love to land with one of the league’s flagship franchises.
The Spurs, however, aren’t necessarily ready to move at the drop of the hat, or at least Leonard’s hat in particular. As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported on Thursday, San Antonio is only listening on offers, rather than actively pursuing deals to move Leonard.
And while there are plenty of rumors about the Los Angeles Lakers and how Leonard would prefer to land in LA, that isn’t set in stone, either. In fact, Wojnarowski noted that the Lakers and Spurs “have had no dialogue” about Leonard at this time.
Spurs are willing listeners on Kawhi Leonard trade proposals, but haven't been proactive in chasing down offers, league sources tell ESPN. For now, make an offer and they'll add it to their board. Spurs and Lakers have had no dialogue on Leonard.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 21, 2018
In many ways, this makes sense. Unlike some other organizations, the Spurs are seemingly taking the measured approach here, realizing that there is little value in simply dumping Leonard in the early stages of the process. The arrival of the NBA Draft could present some level of urgency but, considering a reported meeting between Leonard and head coach Gregg Popovich earlier this week, it does not appear as if the Spurs have any plans to fire off a deal in the near future.
The Lakers do have interesting assets, headlined by Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma and Lonzo Ball, but the Spurs could certainly receive more attractive offers elsewhere and San Antonio would be smart to keep the playing field wide for as long as possible. It seems like destiny that the Spurs and Lakers will discuss a deal for Leonard in the near future but, according to this report, it just hasn’t happened yet.
Yahoo’s Shams Charania reports a little bit of different information, noting L.A. has made their desire to land Leonard known, but that there haven’t been any packages discussed.
The Los Angeles Lakers have reached out to the San Antonio Spurs to express interest in All-Star Kawhi Leonard, league sources tell Yahoo. No proposals have been discussed.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 21, 2018
That seems to really be more of a difference in semantics, as having not discussed any proposals could very well be relayed as “no dialogue” on trades. As Ramona Shelburne reports, that’s about what happened as the Spurs “shut the door” on the Lakers when they tried calling.
Within the last week the Lakers contacted the Spurs to discuss a Kawhi Leonard trade. As one source put it, “they basically shut the door on us.”
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) June 21, 2018
