While other NBA stars are changing teams, signing new contracts and making surprise moves, Kawhi Leonard is staying put. Although Leonard was expected to be one of the first ones to make a move this offseason, it looks like his San Antonio Spurs are still not getting offers they want from other teams. And according to reports, they want a massive haul.
According to Yahoo Sports, Spurs have engaged into talks with Lakers about Kawhi Leonard trade, and they are asking Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart, two first-round picks, and two draft pick swaps. In any other situation, this would be a fair trade given that Leonard is the league’s best two-way player and third best NBA player when healthy.
The thing is that Leonard has publicly stated that he wants to play in Los Angeles, and has only one year left on his contract. This means that Lakers don’t have a big motivation to send so many young promising players and draft assets for a player they could get for free in a year. Still, they have decided to play a waiting game with Paul George last year, and he ended up signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Another thing that might not work in Lakers’ favor are the recent reports that Kawhi Leonard is more interested in playing for the Los Angeles Clippers than Lakers. The word on the street is that Leonard wouldn’t be too happy about joining forces with LeBron James and forming another superteam.
There are also other NBA teams exploring the idea to trade for Leonard, but they aren’t willing to give up much since they are not sure they can keep him after next year. Philadelphia 76ers are willing to offer a package of players and draft picks but are not willing to include Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid, and Markele Fultz into negotiations. Boston Celtics would also make a deal if the trade wouldn’t include Jayson Tatum or Jalen Brown.
