I’m not sure why SA would even think about trading him within the same conference. If I’m SA I’m trading Leonard to BOS for Tatum, Kyrie, and a future 1st round pick. And if I’m trading him to NY I want Porzingis, the #9 pick, and a future 1st.
LOL, now that he is out from being under Pop's thumb, Leonard will now be the life of the party - wearing the proverbial lampshade on his head, etc.
What young athletic studs? To get Kawhi, Pop will want all their young studs. Their roster will be gutted and it'll just be 3 forwards and no choice but to sign a bunch of old vets. Even the Rockets would beat them IMO. It just sounds like a complete disaster waiting to happen. Throwing a roster together without fit.
Makes the whole ‘what if’ of the CP3 injury right after going up 3-2 that much harder to swallow. Next year, the Warriors will still be there, the Lakers can become a jaugernaut, Celtics are gonna be awesome, Philly is gonna be better, the Jazz are gonna get better, the Rockets should also be amazing, and if Pop still has the passion, the Spurs will be an obstacle with or without Kawhi, Toronto also has potential to do damage especially if LeBron leaves (which is likely)
Pop managed to talk Aldridge into staying but couldn't do the same with Kawhi. Wow. I'm going to be floored if the Spurs trade Kawhi to the Lakers for that hodgepodge of talent they have. Reality is though that stars usually get what they want.
None of these players stayed off the court with imaginary injuries for a whole season. Kawhi has already demonstrated supreme diva behaviour that hasn't been seen for years.
Yes, it's very deflating. It may turn out that we had a one year window and got snuffed out by a combination of injury, refereeing and historical outlier shooting.
Just bc pop will want all their young studs doesn’t mean pop will get them. Lakers will likely trade away one of Ingram or Kuzma, some picks, and maybe either Randle or Ball. This means that a combo of two of those four will still be a Laker...
It's stunning really. Kawhi tanked an entire season to force himself into a better situation for his brand. Unparalleled. Players have always threatened that but never gone through with it. His injury was actually extremely lucky for him.
Magic: You've been fined for tampering before. Do it again. Please say to the media how much you like Kawhi! Sanctions: "Lakers cannot trade for Kawhi for a year."
Lakers have the assets for the Leonard trade but not one of them seem like pop kind of players. He has a very work horse type feel to the team. Kuz - to uncertain no D Ball - Should be clear why pop wouldn't want him Ingram - I could see Celtics/76ers are the real threats. Moves Leonard out the conference and gets back good return.
If LA can trade for Kwhai, and somehow dump Luel Deng's contract(which is almost as big as Kwhai's), then they have room to sign Lebron and PG as free agents.
That's the difference between him and LMA @justtxyank LMA was probably pissed for not getting a lot of touches, but he still played, Kawhi literally refused to come back and wasn't even on the bench with his team in the playoffs, if that's not someone trying to get traded than i don't know.
yup. Paul George was b****ing to the press. Cousins was commenting on twitter. Kyrie threatened with a surgery tht he needed anyway. But Kawhi straight up didn't play and that's with a team that was a pretender not lottery.
Correction: Popovich is proven to be a dick coach to his players, behaviour that has been seen for years.
