The Los Angeles Lakers face a bit of a dilemma. The team wants to position itself as the premier option for LeBron James should he opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent, but with the best player in the world saying he is in “championship mode,” the team’s ultra-young roster could work more to its detriment than its benefit.
This is especially the case as reports indicate Oklahoma City might be able to convince Paul George to stick around. That would be a major blow to the Lakers, as the current free agent market just don’t have a ton of stars worth getting a max contract alongside James. If that option would be taken off the table, the Lakers’ eyes would logically turn to the trade market and one name in particular: Kawhi Leonard.
According to a report by Ramona Shelburne, Brian Windhorst, and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, “pressure is mounting” on Los Angeles’ front office to get something done with Leonard before James hits the open market.
As LeBron James remains hesitant to be the first superstar to decide on the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency, pressure is mounting for the Lakers front office to execute a trade with the San Antonio Spurs to acquire disgruntled All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard, league sources told ESPN.
There’s a race to secure Leonard before James is faced with deciding whether to become a free agent on Friday, especially with concern that Oklahoma City’s Paul George is no longer assured of signing with the Lakers, league sources said.
ESPN also wrote that James is expected to make a quick decision, and that outside of the Lakers, Boston, Cleveland, Philadelphia, and the Clippers have made attempts at a potential move for Leonard.
The Lakers are in a bit of a weird spot, as there have been a number of reports that no team has any interest in helping them in their pursuit of big-name free agents. General manager Rob Pelinka attributed this to “natural envy.” There have also been reports that the Spurs have zero interest in sending Leonard to the Lakers or any other Western Conference squad, which works against them.
Whether that’s true or not remains to be seen, but it’s an absolutely fascinating subplot if the Lakers are indeed feeling pressed to get Leonard despite Magic Johnson said he’s not feeling any pressure this summer. Perhaps this means they do something drastic, like completely unload their war chest of assets to get Leonard, or maybe all of this is for naught and James and George sign there, anyway. Regardless, we should get an answer in the next week or so.
(Via ESPN)
