(Shams) Kawhi Leonard wants out of San Antonio

Woj reporting Leonard will sign in LA when he becomes a FA in 2019

 

This should shock no one.

It was an incredibly dumb thing to say.

 

I really would trade him to any team outside of LA just for the circus he’s created and how he’s acted.

I don’t understand how this isn’t portrayed worse than how “dwightmare” was.

I predict kawhi to philly for fultz/bayless/#10/#26

 

My goodness man this guy is becoming the ultimate *******, the spurs should trade him to the worst team in the league and let him rot there for a year.

 

If this report is true, he's being open about his 2019 intentions which will make it harder for the Spurs to get value in a trade. If Kawhi is anywhere else but LA this coming season, his heart will not be in it.

Question: Can the Spurs sign Kawhi to the supermax in July [EDIT: 2019] and trade him immediately to the Lakers or Clippers (creating a bidding war between the two teams)?

 

They wouldn't be able to trade him for 6 months

 

We wouldn't want him wasting away a season now. What kind of precedent would that set??

 

If they get lebron and PG they cannot sign him outright anyways that being The lakers next off season. The timing is interesting for this meeting because I think it definitely means the spurs are willing to trade prior to the draft and with the way he’s acting I really don’t see pop putting up with this until the trade deadline. Problem is for us that he himself now is forcing a deal to LA knowing that he cannot go there next year by himself unless a trade is done, maybe spurs might just have to send him for Ingram and Kuzma because I don’t see the Celtics really wanting to deal with this headcase nor even the sixers. PG did do the same thing but what team could you guys see willing to part ways for a one year rental? Sucks that this is happening in the west

 

Isnt real gm crap tho? Like tabloid level?

 

I agree it’s a dumb comment, but hot damn these dudes are so freakin’ sensitive these days. Is that REALLY why he wants out? No way. I don’t buy that THIS one little comment is why he wants to be traded.... that would make him the biggest poon in pro sports.

I think he just really wants to be an LA Laker (his favorite team growing up — he's from the Compton area) and is just using all this crap as a excuse (which is doubley panzey of him). Just man up, look your head coach and GM in the eye, and tell them the truth — that you want to be in LA and not in San Antonio any longer. All this nonsense about missing an entire season while getting paid $20M (only to reportedly be miraculously 100% as soon as the season’s over), dragging the Spurs name through the mud, having your Uncle do all the talking for you and leaking news that he’ll only sign for LA next Summer, having Pop fly all over the US to meet up with him (first in NY 3 weeks ago, now in San Diego today), and then his Uncle has to sit in on the meetings with Pop too? Incredibly lame. He’s a hell of a player obviously, Top-5 when healthy,but that kind of behavior would not fly with me if I were a HC/GM. I’d ship his ass to the worst team possible for a couple draft picks and let him rot away for a year. This whole thing makes he and his camp look bad. Luckily for him, the Lakers don’t care and it looks like he’s going to be there next Summer regardless of what happens this Summer, but most teams I think would normally be totally tuned off by that.

 

HIs heart better be in it considering it’s going to be a contract year for him.. He’s only eligible for the Supermax again next Summer IF he makes an All-NBA Team or wins an Award (DPOY, MVP, etc.). But regardless, he’s going to need to show teams that he’s fully healthy and worth a max contract again this season.

 

It makes it harder, but the Spurs will ultimately end up sending him East. Also, teams like the Celtics and Sixers know if they let the Lakers get Kawhi before LeBron signs, the Lakers will end up with LeBron, George and Kawhi, making it harder for either team to win a championship with their talented young cores. Finally, Boston has so many assets that they can take the gamble, and if Philadelphia were to get Kawhi before June 29, they’d basically lock up LeBron in free agency, too.

 

Kawhi quickly movin' up on that biggest b**** [move] list.

So he still hasn't asked the Spurs for a trade? Still can't sit down with them, tell Pop & RC 'I want to be traded'?

Is that before or after "alerting" the Spurs he wanted to be traded?

Aww look at this little b****...

 

If he's trying to force the Spurs' hand and trade him to LA then I would take Tobias ,#12,#13 and a future 1st and dump him on the Clippers.

 

100% agreed.

This guy just wants to play for the Lakers and go back to Cali. He's just trying to make the Spurs look bad in the process because he doesn't be held accountable for leaving.

 

MAKE NO MISTAKE .. . . . all of that is irrelevent
THIS IS ALL ABOUT HIS SHOE CONTRACT!!!

HE is PISSED that Harden is making like 200 Mill (or is it 3?)
and he making less than 10

This is from Mar 4, 2018, 9:39 AM ET
https://abcnews.go.com/Sports/kawhi-leonards-talks-jordan-brand-shoe-deal-stalled/story?id=53499926

I would bet GOOD MONEY

That less than a Month after he lands in LA . . . . He will have over a 100 Mill Contract with Nike
(Originally said 200 mill but Kawhi boring AF)

Rocket River

 

Most teams picking in the top 10 in Thursday's draft, if not all of them, have at least contacted the San Antonio Spurs about Kawhi Leonard and asked, essentially, "Keep us in the loop." Teams outside the top 10, including the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and LA Clippers, have done the same.

Some of those suitors know they don't have enough: The Cavs peddling Kevin Love and the No. 8 pick, the Grizzlies with No. 4 and Chandler Parsons, the Clippers with Tobias Harris and Nos. 12 and 13.

In theory, almost no team should pony up its best assets for a player who could bolt in a year without a nearly ironclad assurance he will re-sign. With Leonard, obtaining such assurance may not even be possible. No one knows whether they can trust the word of the advisors around him. There are deep suspicions that Leonard has already decided he wants to play for the Lakers.

The Spurs haven't given up hope of reconciling with Leonard, league sources say, though it is unclear if the ballyhooed Gregg Popovich-Leonard summit in San Diego defused the tension. They still have the five-year, $219 super-max offer in the bag. They are projecting patience in preliminary talks.

It might sound ridiculous, but Boston will be wary including Brown, even if they get to speak with Leonard about re-signing. The Celtics are set up to contend for at least 10 years. The Irving/Hayward/Horford trio should carry them now. Brown and Tatum take over later.

Flipping Brown for Leonard tilts Boston more toward the present, and chips away at what looks like a bright future stretching well beyond 2025. To maintain that present-future balance, it makes more sense to use Hayward or Irving as the centerpiece of any Leonard trade. Boston does not appear inclined to go that route -- at least not now. If the Spurs deal Leonard, they should enter full rebuild mode and chase picks and younger players, anyway.

Swapping Brown (and lots of other stuff) for Leonard would leave Boston with four players earning fat max contracts, including three -- Horford, Irving and Leonard -- who can negotiate fatter ones in 2019. If four such deals prove too much to bear, Boston might have to sell low on one. Meanwhile, Brown isn't eligible for a new deal until 2020-21, and his maximum salary starts at least $5-6 million below those of Hayward and Irving.

There's also this: What if Brown is on a path to becoming the next Kawhi Leonard?

There are striking statistical and stylistic similarities between Brown and the Leonard of 2012 and 2013. Like Leonard then, Brown already profiles as an elite multi-positional wing defender.

Most executives around the league consider it a no-brainer for Boston to toss Brown into any Leonard trade, provided the Celtics get the requisite assurances about Leonard's health and willingness to re-sign. It's not -- not given Brown's youth, salary and potential to grow into something like 90 percent of prime Leonard.

But that last 10 percent is why you probably do it. It is the 10 percent that separates the very best players. It wins championships. Every one of those 10 percentage points is exponentially harder to find than the one below it.

Boston has put itself in such a good position that it can deal future for present and still feel good about the future. A healthy Leonard will be a superstar for at least the next five seasons. Tatum will be one soon. They'd still have extra picks, and maybe that is the bright line in the end if trade talks with the Spurs advance: If you get Brown and Rozier, you don't get that Sacramento gem -- and perhaps not the Memphis one, either. (Boston could move Rozier for some very nice things now, but they need his salary -- or some replacement salary -- to make most Leonard deals work.)

Adding a fourth max salary would make for a painful luxury tax bill in 2019-20, but Brown and then Tatum are on pace to create the same problem starting only a year later. Maybe Horford would take a discount on annual salary to lock in a long-term deal. Worst case, you trade one of the big-money veterans for whatever you can get.

If everything lines up right -- and only then -- Leonard is good enough, and still young enough, that you probably hold your nose and deal Brown in exchange. If anything about Leonard feels off or unknowable, Boston can sit tight and feel fine. Brown is that intriguing.​