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For a 1 year rental? Hardly!
Beautifully written. I very much agree Popovich, Buford would operate with this mindset in letting him rot before being strong-armed by a player their staff built in large part.
And malinger - what a great word. That's Leonard to me now. Kawhi the Malingerer.
For a 1 year rental? Hardly!
NBA trade rumors: Celtics, Lakers can't save Spurs from Kawhi Leonard trap
They fell into Tim Duncan in 1997, when an otherwise very good Western Conference team had a ragged season because of an injury to David Robinson, and were gifted the No. 1 pick in the draft. They pulled Avery Johnson off the hoops scrap heap and turned him into a starter, and did that repeatedly for a decade: Bruce Bowen, Stephen Jackson, Gary Neal, Danny Green.
They swiped Manu Ginobili from under the noses of the rest of the league, using the 57th pick to draft him in 1999, after nine second-rounders who never even appeared in an NBA game, and landed Tony Parker with the final first-round pick of the 2001 draft, after the likes of Joe Forte, Jeryl Sasser and Brandon Armstrong.
We’re so accustomed to the Spurs, as a franchise, keeping one step ahead of the other 29 teams that it’s almost unnerving to witness San Antonio in its current state — boxed in, blindsided by an obstinate star and staving off desperation.
Kawhi Leonard, having sat for most of last season with a quad injury that the team felt did not require such tender treatment, has made clear that he wants out of San Antonio, and the Spurs have accepted that fact.
But finding a decent offer for Leonard has already proven thorny. The Spurs entered this process hoping to avoid trading Leonard within the Western Conference, but according to executives around the league, Leonard’s camp has made it clear that he wants to be in Los Angeles, and he has the leverage of hitting free agency next summer. That has left the hands of Gregg Popovich, R.C. Buford and the Spurs brass tied.
San Antonio has engaged in talks with Boston, and the Celtics would appear to be a natural trading partner — they’re a championship contender, in the East and loaded with young assets (Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Terry Rozier, two potential 2019 lottery picks).
But sources told Sporting News that the Celtics are approaching the situation with trepidation. They have no intention of trading Tatum whatsoever this offseason, even in a deal for Leonard. The Spurs would want Brown as part of any trade package, but even there, Boston is wavering.
There are a number of reasons for this. First, there is concern about how Leonard, an MVP candidate when healthy, would mesh with Kyrie Irving, who has looked at his spot with the Celtics given the chance to finally lead his own team and escape the shadow of LeBron James. Both players are known to be stubborn — chemistry is a concern.
There is also the reality of Leonard’s impending free agency. The Celtics are, naturally, concerned that Leonard could bolt for Los Angeles after one year with the team. Boston has no interest in giving up Brown for one year of Leonard.
And there are financial realities. As one source told Sporting News, “There’s a limit on how much they’re going to be willing to pay for a team, no matter how good the roster is. There’s a limit on everybody. And eventually, the bill will come due on the players they have.”
Celtics owners have said they’d be willing to pay the luxury tax, but that bill figures to get large — quickly. Yes, the Celtics have a rich deal with their local broadcaster, but they do not own the TD Garden — it’s owned by the Bruins — and that will always put something of a cap on revenues.
If the Celtics were to trade for Leonard, then give new contracts to both him and Irving (who can also be a free agent) next summer, they would find themselves deep into the luxury tax. An estimate of their tax bill for 2019-20 would run well over $100 million, maybe even more than $150 million. The Celtics are a valuable franchise, but that type of annual tax bill would be too much for any team without full revenues on the building in which they play.
The Celtics’ reluctance, then, is understandable. They don’t want to give away young players for a guy who might only be around a year. They also don’t want to land Leonard, then have to pay him a massive salary without knowing for sure how he will fit in with the rest of the team, Irving in particular.
That brings us back to the Lakers, and just how boxed in the Spurs are on this Leonard deal.
One league executive suggested that the Spurs have two choices. They can take the big offer from the Lakers now, which will likely include budding former No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram, and could pave the way for LA to also add LeBron James. Or they could wait a couple weeks until it is obvious that the Lakers are the only credible bidder, and take a skeleton offer from LA.
“The Lakers are feeling some pressure because they’ve got one eye on this and one eye on LeBron,” the executive said. “The Spurs are hoping for a bidding war, but who else is bidding here? There is no war. They need to move on this before [July 1].”
The Spurs, who fleeced the rest of the league repeatedly in the last 20 years, are on the verge of being fleeced for one of the game’s top players. It’s a weird comeuppance for an organization that has been so dignified and respected for so long.
http://www.sportingnews.com/nba/news...medium=twitter
My problems dealing with the Lakers:
-We've seen it before. Young Lakers prospects turn to when they're traded from there. I don't know if it's a case of the media overrating Lakers prospects or some psychological factor at play, but it's definitely a trend.
-As related to the above point, when prospects are traded from the Lakers, they seem to get depressed and despondent and get "homesick" for LA to the point they want out (to anywhere) from their new team. So even if the Spurs were able to develop Ingram and Kuzma into a solid 1-2 punch, they would likely leave the Spurs when their contracts expire. This means the Spurs spent all the time and work developing only to get nothing in return. Ingram and Kuzma, et al would basically turn the Spurs into a treadmill team for the next 3 years, meaning no high lottery picks. I'd rather the Spurs just go into tank mode for the next few seasons and stockpile. The pieces we'd get from the Lakers would be a very temporary "fix" (i.e. keeping the Spurs in the 8th seed hunt) that wouldn't set up the club for the future. Some might argue that if the Spurs develop these players to the point where the Spurs are "a piece away" from being a contender, they probably wouldn't leave in FA if the Spurs could sign that missing piece. Don't see that scenario as realistic given the Spurs track record of acquiring high profile free agents.
This is why the Spurs have always stockpiled and built through the draft. If they can get talent as rookies, better chance of the organization "indoctrinating them" into the culture.
https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comment...discussed_the/
(Shelburne) "The Lakers have discussed the possibility of trading for a different all star besides Kawhi if they feel like the Spurs will not deal with them."
"just reported on KSPN - ESPN radio 710 AM. Lakers are unsure if the Spurs will deal with them."
The Heat's future is not promising. Riley overpaid for a bunch of mediocre, low-ceiling players who are only getting older. That pick is going to be good.
You want Boston and Philly fighting over Kawhi.
Well, duh.
that... Spurs need to Herschel Walker this .
Good point. It's probably more about getting the Lakers back into the Finals than anything else.
I wonder if Ramona is paid in pounds of potato wedges or mac n' cheese balls.
Ramona, Jabari and Windhorst in LA..what a trio..
Seems like that might take some air out of the balloon for Kawhi to sign there as a free agent if they load up on allstars before hand.
Stop, I can only get so erect.
There's no way the Spurs are trading with the Lakers unless they get rid of Ball for another prospect (eg Jaylen Brown, Josh Jackson) as well as Ingram. They know Kuzma isn't a prospect. Magic has to get this done to get LBJ - it would be his biggest failure if he had a chance to lure LeBron & couldn't do it.
I'm just glad to see them getting in on the bidding war. Everything today was purely Laker driven. There was a couple Boston drips but, frankly...it sounds like they aren't really ready to play hard ball yet.
If Philly gets in on the action, the price will start going up quick. Lakers need to know that they aren't going to get Kawhi for a bag of magic beans.
Ingram isn’t all that, and with Kawhi on board, those picks are guaranteed to be . Miami was a 7 seed this year, and will have either 6 or 7 players, none of them stars, making 8 figure annual salaries until 2020. Their chances of improvement are slim.
There's like 15 pages worth of posts in just the past few hours.
Can someone post cliff notes of what's been happening?
Just imagine Big Mona and Windhorst pounding flesh.
Thank me later.
Nothing..literally nothingThere's like 15 pages worth of posts in just the past few hours.
Can someone post cliff notes of what's been happening?
Shocker.
PANIC BLUFF !!!!
"C'mon guys! If you don't trade us Kawhi, we'll just trade for another MVP top 3 player trying to bully his way out of town!"
No one knows anything. We’re just panic posting at this point.There's like 15 pages worth of posts in just the past few hours.
Can someone post cliff notes of what's been happening?
rob, you seem like a hush puppies type of , amiright?
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