After meeting this week with the Lakers, Clippers, and Raptors, Kawhi Leonard has yet to make a free agent decision and doesn’t plan on making an announcement today, tweets Cris Carter of Fox Sports 1.
Appearing this morning on First Things First (video link), Carter had suggested that Leonard may announce his decision on Friday, though that’s certainly not set in stone. The former NFL wide receiver may seem like an unusual source for updates on the NBA’s top free agent, but Carter is more plugged-in than most when it comes to Kawhi, as his relationship with Leonard and his camp dates back years.
ESPN’s Jalen Rose said on Wednesday that he has heard there’s a 99% chance of Leonard re-signing with the Raptors. Frank Isola of The Athletic conveyed a similar sentiment today (via Twitter), and a player whose free agency will be affected by Leonard’s has heard the same thing, albeit not directly from Kawhi or his reps, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon, who cautioned taking his own update with a grain of salt (Twitter link).
Nonetheless, Carter insists there is still no clear frontrunner. According to Carter, the trust that Leonard has established with the Raptors over the last year is an important factor, and yesterday’s meeting with Toronto was “very impressive,” but the Finals MVP has a “great deal of interest” in both the Lakers and Clippers.
Sick of this. Lakers are absolutely ignorant! Should’ve used that money and spread it out and now we’ve lost out on everyone. Better hope we can get at least Green, Iggy, Korver and Cousins if we lose out on this guy. This is ridiculous
How dare someone who earned the right to choose wherever he wants to play take more time than i want him to.
He said he was mad at the Lakers not KL
“We didn’t come this far,
to only come this far.”
Gary 7:4
Exactly. Not mad at him. He can take all the time he wants but the Lakers should’ve been going after others to fill the roster out and not they are about to be really screwed if they don’t get him. I’m not like others thinking they will be terrible because they still hVe AD, LeBron and Kuzma but they could’ve had a damn good roster still if they wouldn’t have waited around for Kawhi.
Green wants 50-60 mil. Iggy isnt being bought out by any team he ends up being on. Griz wanted him to give up 12 mil of his 18m to accept the buy out. Cousins seems likely. Idk if suns will let go of Korver because they gave away Josh Jackson for him.
Korver has been released
Oh how the mighty have fallen
They got out of Josh Jackson.
And?
You may be the ignorant one. Point of no return was Sunday night. No competitive NBA franchise bows out of the race for a top player in the world to sign worse players. This the LakeShow they go for the best of the best. Not the NY Knicks. If the clippers dont get him they are the ones who is screwed. Lakers still have LeBron and Davis.
You ask why wait? I asKawhi not?
obviously the LAL feel very very confident that they can land KL…the clippers pivoted some already.
This decision comes down to LAL or TOR
LAL have 2 other pieces locked in for the next few years…We all know AD is resigning if KL comes and probably resigning anyway…
TOR has alot of questions who resigns who moves on who is traded to make room. How willing is TOR to pay deep into the luxury? We know the LAL won’t shy away from the luxury
Well might also settle for JR Smith.
Iggy, Cousins might be a possibility. Korver is a certainty.
Like I aforementioned above, Iggy is staying on the griz til his contract is up. Suns seem content with keeping Korver on their roster. Especially with Monty as coach, he loves vets on his team.
I am going to rotflmao IF Korbut goes anywhere other then Lakerland
This is great news. Kawhi is smart and is taking his time. Kawhi began the season with two feet out the door but after the finals win, he knows he has to make pro and cons of each team. He has to do his homework. Hes being methodical. Most of these free agents made fast decisions because they either took the highest offer they were given outside from Pat Beverley or had both/one foot out the door already. Kawhi fell in love with Toronto and with the Raptors especially with how they were able to sweep his beef with Kyle Lowry under the rug(Rumor: Kyle didnt like the idea of Kawhi’s load management but they resolved it). Had that been on the lakers that story would have broken in a matter of seconds. Hes processing his options and I salute him for that. Although he will make 11mil less even with the 5th year then compared to his 4yr deals in LA.
“a player whose free agency will be affected by Leonard’s has heard the same thing”
– I don’t see KL allowing anyone in his camp to tell this to a fellow player who’s livelihood depends on it if it weren’t true. The media (even Jalen Rose), who just want to pound their chest over knowing something, sure, but not a fellow player.
Yeah that part made the least sense. If true it’s obviously Green, but him saying anything would be a very dumb move.
For what it’s worth, MacMahon said in a follow-up tweet that it wasn’t Green.
The plot thickens…
Of course Mac would say that – especially if Danny hit him up saying, “Damn, man…. why u say that? Everyone will obviously know its me! Maybe I can’t tell u anything anymore.” lol
But as noted in the article, that player didn’t hear it from Leonard or his reps, so he could very well be misinformed.
This is agent stuff. Unless it’s BS that was not worth reporting, the player would have heard it from “his” agent, who would say it to the player as though he has good sources but not revealing them. Whether he’s playing his client or not, he’s likely bet his representation on it.
bigger curiosity is who this player is that would be affected… Boogie, I presume?
if the story had truth
Manny Machado and Bryce Harper took over 4 months to make a decision. Waiting on Kawhi is childs play
Wrong those are different situations. It more on teams weren’t as willing to give Harper and Manny what they wanted than those guys waiting to pick a team
He did fly to Toronto
He had too, what did you expect a long car ride
lmao!
That way he could have taken a poll of unbiased randos at filling stations & eateries about what to do next. They would be just as wise.
He was in LACA, he could have rented a studio lot trailer.
thanks frank comment of the day right there!
Clippers
He clearly ain’t going to the Clippers. Good ol MadmanTX cant even competently hate. Its obvious Raptors if not LAL
a player who heard it not directly from Kawhi or his reps? So essentially someone who watches Jalen Rose make complete random guesses on ESPN.
Didn’t Kawhi not answer any calls from UCSD all summer and then just showed up at first practice, but everyone was saying he was MIA and were like, legit worried about him?
He’s going to take his time, we live in his world, not the other way around and being that he plays basketball like MJ in his prime in a more dominant era of superior gameplay, he can afford to live like this. If this makes you mad for any reason (usually only makes the spoonfed ESPN narratives mouth breakers mad) then you can always stop caring about it, which is free.
I got my complaint in early, around June 30, a premptive strike, because the ‘delay’ is so predictable. His choosing, like his offense, requires that his team waits on him, even more than Lebron or MJ does or did. They are more teammate-aware and generally aware than KL is.
Isoball is a valid offense that can win a title because of the way the game is officiated.
There’s obviously a lot of people around that will be crushed if he decides on the Lakers. People are leaking misinformation hoping to sway the dynamic one way or the other. All this started with Kawhi wanting to be traded to the
Lakers but Pop wasn’t going to allow that. Now they are out there for him on a silver platter. Along with LBJ and AD. It’s now or never Mr. Leonard.
According to Magic LA didn’t want to pay 4 first rounders to LAL for Kawhi. Which if true. is hilarious as the paid 4 1sts and 2 recent lottery picks for AD, the far inferior player.
* to SAS
They only paid 3 first and the third most likely wont materialize til 2025. Spurs wanted Kuzma in the deal instead of lonzo. Magic didnt say it but it was reported 4 firsts, Bi, hart, kuzma, Zubac..
Sooo wrong dude!!! AD is waaay better than Kawhi…not even close now or never!
AD has won a single playoff series in his career…
Siakam has won more playoff series than AD.
So?
If it was Toronto, wouldn’t he just say so? If it’s one of the LA teams, he can say he was torn… really loved Toronto… struggled for a long time… etc.
The NBA has turned into the AAU, but Leonard hasn’t fallen into that category. The only player that seems to be looking to make a calculated decision. And I don’t think money isn’t his main driver, either. Would love to see him sign with the Clippers or Rapters.
At this point, I cam see LBJ saying to AD : let’s just focus on going forward.
Give him his space and if he joins we adjust for him.
Gotta focus on the coming season
Season doesn’t start until end of October, a few more days aren’t going to affect their game planning.
as always mebron is the coach.
LAL roster next year…KL AD LBJ…Korver comes, Iggy ends up there, Danny Green comes there on the MLE he apparently loves KL
This team is elite and will win no questions ask…they’ll be on GSW level of domination last 2 years…
They’ll probably coast through the regular season and turn it on for the post seasosn
The Lakers will be the team to beat in the west, even if KL decides to stay in TOR the Lakers will still find the talent and players to be the “team” in the west…
If KL decides this is not for him welcome in Ariza Boogie and Korver + random vets and they still have the team to beat they’ll be Rockets-Lakers and if you’re asking me if AD+LBJ is better than CP+JH i’ll laugh if you say the joke of JH has a chance of toppling LBJ
dream on. lakers are the biggest mess.
Boogie?Ariza?Korver? The only player they got is Jared Dudley and some summer league player forgot the name… oh wait I read Amar’e Stoudamire and Monta Ellis is now available…lol
LaBron is washed up.
So there are reporters out they are 99% certain according to their sources he is resigning with the raptors but have also said they have not gotten any confirmation from Leonard or any of his representatives. So how are they so certain he’s going back to Toronto? If you have not heard from his team or him and according to Leonard and his representatives there is no front runner how can you be so certain he’s going back to Toronto? There is something I think that needs to be addressed apparently out here in Las Vegas two days before Anthony Davis was acquired someone went to a sports book and placed $10,000 on the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title. Well today someone else went to that same sports book and placed the same amount of money on the Los Angeles Lakers to win the NBA title. Out here many people think whoever plays the first bad news the Lakers were getting Davis and whoever placed a second that knows they are getting Leonard. Not concrete proof but you have to admit about the irony. Especially if what these reporters are reporting is true that he is making his decision tomorrow.
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If I was a Toronto Raptors fan I would be getting very nervous at this point. Been hearing reports that possibly Leonard is waiting until tomorrow so he can talk to Anthony Davis before making a decision because Davis will not officially be a member of the Los Angeles Lakers until midnight. It would make a lot of sense especially if he wanted to come to the Lakers could be part of a tree out probably would want to know what Davises plans are. Another reason why if I was a fan of Toronto I would be very nervous, when have we ever seen a top free agents not re-sign with his current team in the first couple days and then a week down the road end up resigning with them? No player comes to mind normally they resign before free agency starts or the day of or the day after free agency starts. This entire process really reminds me of LeBron James in 2010 and a week later he made the announcement he was signing with Miami. I know people are going to say this is different he won a title with Toronto which is very true but he also won a title in San Antonio and was screaming to get traded. Everyone is trying to say it makes sense for him to just go back to Toronto but when has Leonard ever been the master of conventional thinking? Something everyone knows but is trying very hard to ignore his heart is in Los Angeles California is where he was born where he was raised this is the same guy who was raised in San Diego was being recruited by the top colleges in the country but decided to stay in San Diego and play college ball for San Diego State. Would have made more sense to go to Duke, Kentucky maybe even North Carolina but he decided to stay home some food for thought for all those Toronto fans.