The first major story of the NBA offseason broke on Friday, when multiple reports indicated that Kawhi Leonard wanted out of San Antonio. While the Spurs will take a patient, measured approach to the situation and won’t rush Leonard out the door, there was certainly no shortage of trade rumors surrounding the star forward over the weekend.
We’ve got a few more Kawhi-related items to round up this morning, so let’s dive right in…
- Both the Lakers and Clippers have some concerns about the severity of Leonard’s quad injury, writes Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. While no player on the Lakers’ roster is untouchable, the team’s willingness to part with major pieces for Leonard would depend on how confident the front office is in his health.
- Assuming the Clippers are comfortable with Leonard’s health, they’d be willing to create a package headlined by Tobias Harris and the 12th or 13th pick in this year’s draft, a source tells Ganguli.
- Kevin Pelton and Bobby Marks of ESPN.com take a closer look at what the Celtics could offer for Leonard, exploring whether higher-priced veteran stars like Kyrie Irving or Gordon Hayward could be trade chips or whether Boston could put together a package using a handful of less expensive players.
- Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com examines the impact that the Leonard situation could have on LeBron James‘ decision this summer.
- The Leonard saga represents the “end of the innocence” for Spurs fans, Mike Finger explains in a column for The San Antonio Express-News.
I wouldn’t trade Kyrie in a trade for Leonard. And plus, Leonard’s price will go down because of the fact that everyone knows he desperately wants out of San Antonio. I wouldn’t hesitate to trade Jaylen if there was a commitment from Kawhi (which won’t happen). I also believe that Brad Stevens would never let Danny Ainge trade Gordon Hayward. This is a long shot for sure but Sacramento has made it known that they want to trade for a superstar and if Ainge is feeling some kind of way, he could hypothetically put Kyrie on the table. A trade such as Fox and the #2 pick for Kyrie and Boston’s first this year could be something to ponder.
That is not a bad proposal, problem is how do you convince Kyrie to stay in Sacramento past this coming season? That Boston pick falls at #27, who are the Kings drafting with that pick? Grayson Allen? I like Harry Giles and Bogdan Bogdanovic just don’t see why Kyrie would stay past next season unless they magically convince Demarcus to come back to Sacramento. That would be pretty sweet.
If the kings give up fox and #2 for one year of Irving, divac will officially pass billy king as the worst GM in history.
The trade only hypothetically happens if Kyrie gave the Kings a guarantee (long shot) but if he did I like it on both sides
Too much questioning with Kawhi. If Danny feels some type of way about Kyrie I’d trade him. Sacramento has made it known that they want a superstar. Fox and #2 pick for Kyrie and Boston’s first could be something to ponder.
Irving for Leonard? Which player helps C’s win in 2018-19? Keep Irving with Brown, Tatum, and Hayward.
Irving for Leonard gives you this choice:
1) Kyrie and Jaylen Brown
2) Kawhi and Terry Rozier
Brown has to come off the bench in #2 which makes the bench better but do you really want to move backwards with him?
It’s a tough one to call but unlikely in the end anyway.
Kawhi for LeBron straight up
This just feels like Andrew Bynum 2.0 and I hope the Sixers are on the sidelines. If they ship out a bunch of assets for this guy, and he leaves – you’ve basically screwed up the entire process.
I’m content with Boston, LAL, LAC, or SAC trading for him.
If you’re Boston, you aren’t going to pay Kyrie, Rozier, Brown, Tatum, Hayward, and Horford. The reason you trade Kyrie, is mostly salary matching. Brown, Morris, and Yab only = 13M. Doesn’t work for a Kawhi trade.
If you’re LA you already know that at least PG13 is coming. I wouldn’t want to send Ingram to SAS. Kuzma, Hart and the Cleveland pick? Sure why not. Then I would deal Ingram + Deng to Chicago for a future top-3 or 5 protected pick & Denzel Valentine. “Omg that such little value for Ingram no way! he’s untouchable” yea well you gave a contract to Deng and it’s similar to the Russell trade, but you can’t take back a contract of high $ value. This is a move that comes AFTER SAS trades you Kawhi.
I don’t see SAS dealing him LAL but this is what I would do if I were Magic. Get yourself the ability to sign PG13 and LBJ while keeping Ingram out of the West and “coming back to haunt you.”
Brown, Morris, Guerschon, sign and trade Smart. Maybe hold onto Yabusele then. Also, since they’d be over the cap they could offer Van Vleet the MLE and see if Toronto would match or not. He could replace Smart for less $$.
I’m not sure I got all that but, huh,
Ingram + Deng for Valentine + a bad team’s future first– and Laker fans are mad? No way CHI does that even with protections.
Trading for Kyrie at this point wouldn’t work for the Kings the dude would opt out next year they are rebuilding and he wouldn’t stay for that and he is coming off a injury filled year.. I’d say no to that trade .. of you can find a way to get Leonard or Tatum those are guys I’d be willing to make a trade for.. but not with Fox included
I have been saying for a while to me the most sense for Kawhi is gonna be the Clippers, he’s the type of player that is made to play for them. But I am glad that they are smart enough to wanna look at his health, to me it looks pretty poor, as he plays in average 58 games a year, if you don’t count last season still is 66 games a season, for a player that so many people say is so important sure misses a lot of games every year (~27% in RS) no wonder teams are worried about his health.
Why is he the type of player that’s made for them?