The ball is in the San Antonio Spurs’ court when it comes to the future of Kawhi Leonard. He’s let the team know he wants out, has given them places he wants to go, and perhaps even already has his eyes set on ending up with the Los Angeles Lakers at some point.
Now San Antonio’s brain trust gets to sit down and try to figure out exactly what its approach to moving Leonard will be. Gregg Popovich went to meet with him on Tuesday, and while details are sparse about what went down, there are indications that San Antonio isn’t rushing to move Leonard.
According to Chris Mannix of Yahoo Sports, the Spurs aren’t exactly calling everyone up to try and find the best deal. Rather, San Antonio is sitting back and listening, not looking to move on a Leonard trade with any haste.
How the Spurs are operating, per multiple sources from teams that have checked in on Kawhi Leonard in recent days: We're not shopping him, but if you want to make us an offer, go ahead, we'll consider it.
— Chris Mannix (@SIChrisMannix) June 20, 2018
As long as San Antonio doesn’t want to land a pick in the lottery of the 2018 NBA Draft, this is probably a smart move. They’re not losing the little bit of leverage they possess by acting desperate, plus it lets them survey the market before acting on anything while they try to convince Leonard to stick around and sign a supermax extension with the franchise.
It’s possible some team blows the Spurs away and Leonard gets flipped sometime soon, but this indicates San Antonio is prepared to play the long game if need be.
