Young: sources tell @ExpressNews that Kawhi Leonard wants to be traded from Spurs

[Mr. Body]

I think Jabari doesn't realize he's a reporter, which requires some sort of ethics. He was lambasting the Spurs that they are too rigid and Spurs comments led to Kawhi asking for a trade. Now, having more context to the situation, it seems pretty clear that uncle Dennis orchestrated this saga to push Kawhi out of San Antonio. He knew eventually the Spurs would respond to their unprofessional behavior and then tried to use the media to push their narrative. So Jabari's response to all this is to deflect instead of reporting the truth. He is such a tool.

There are hints of money getting passed around and I wouldn't be surprised if it comes from LA. Jabari is on the take. Uncle is definitely on the take. The bizarre Trumper 'agent' definitely has his hand out. Not sure if Jabari's gotten paid, but he was promised some things.

[Dre_7]

Somebody needs to break Jabari today, anybody with a twitter, go at that clown hard

I follow him, not going to get into it with him but I have been watching his tweets. He has been responding to a lot in the past hour. With all of them he is saying basically the same thing: How will this change anything?! I am going to focus on the young players! This doesn't change anything! blah blah blah.

[baseline bum]

Mic e Beadle going off on this piece of this morning

[TimDunkem]

I'm starting to believe the Jabari wanting to be KL's Windhorst thing now...

[SpursDynasty85]

I doubt Pop would let Kawhi determine when he was going to play without some practice reps with the team.

Nah. Spurs thought he should be playing. Pop was ready to at least ease him into minutes right away setting up for a playoff push. Spurs might've not seen all the workouts or evaluations but did at least see some. They felt he needed to play. He had not already played all year from an "ailment" he has played with for over a year and a half, including his MVP year.

[SpursDynasty85]

I doubt Leonard attends USA camp. He won’t face the media until he’s re-signed, traded, or training camp.

Many of you salivating at Leonard having to face the media in SA but I feel sorry for the circus it creates for the other guys. They’ll be hounded again everyday. That has to to suck after going through it last season. Can you imagine the daily peppering questions they’ll get? Was he engaged in practice? Was he there the entire time? Did he participate in film sessions? Was he hostile to any of the players and coaches? Anything happen in the lockerrom? Has he attended all the team meetings? Things looked chippy between him and said player in the timeout. What did Leonard do? Is he engaged or just going through the motions?

SA might want to stick it to Leonard and company but hard to believe they’d put the team through that again.

Nah. I think it would entertaining for them. So much detail and insight in that podcast. You should listen to everything if you havent yet. Spurs shielded the media from Leonard every time. This year I'm sure they let anyone and everyone ask him questions and let him answer. He will hopefully break and healing can finally start to begin.

[SpursBig3s]

Eric Gordon, N.O.

I don't remember at all what happened with EG and Nola, can u elaborate?

[picnroll]

Spurs are going to put Leonard in the best possible light and situation. Trade or resign it’s their best interest. Nobody will be taking care of Leonard as well as Pop, certainly not uncle Festus or the Laker’s media circus.

[cjw]

This is the kind of hypocritical idiocy from your fanbase that is so damn annoying. When Kobe was ready to walk the lakers flat out told him we'll trade you to the Bulls but we're going to take everybody that makes them a great team. (Paraphrasing) It has nothing to do with pride, if your solid dime gf about to walk out on you, you don't go bang a 5 just cause it's being offered.

What’s worse than letting a top 5 guy walk? Paying one more money than anyone in the league like the Lakers did in November 2013 coming off of an All NBA season after he had turned 35. Oh, and after he ruptured his Achilles. Like WTF?

Now an All NBA guy coming off a torn Achilles can only get the MLE.

All for the career leader in missed FG whose career eFG% falls just below Rondo, Lou Williams & Melo and just above Jeff Green & Avery Johnson. And the guy who chased Shaq out of town.

tl;dr = better to let someone walk than have a guy clogging your cap if he’s never going to be healthy.

[rasuo214]

Nah. Spurs thought he should be playing. Pop was ready to at least ease him into minutes right away setting up for a playoff push. Spurs might've not seen all the workouts or evaluations but did at least see some. They felt he needed to play. He had not already played all year from an "ailment" he has played with for over a year and a half, including his MVP year.

Even if he was cleared to play Pop said repeatedly he needed to get reps and gave a deadline (forgot when) for when he could return otherwise it wouldn't be realistic. I just have a tough time believing that Pop/Spurs would be ok with him just showing up whenever to play that day.

[cjw]

Let me ask you this and I know you will answer honestly:

Do you really think Kawhi, especially knowing he will re-sign with the Lakers and getting him a full year early, isn’t worth Ingram/Kuz/Ball + draft picks that will be in the late 20s?

To get a third star, they’ll have to part with them in one way or another to clear the cap space for FA anyway! Unless they need one to package with Luol Deng’s dung-like contract

[cd98]

I'm starting to believe the Jabari wanting to be KL's Windhorst thing now...

Do you think Jabari is jealous of Wright? Wright has the ESPN gig. Jabari is stuck with Express News.

[buttsR4rebounding]

I wonder if Team USA would ask Leonard not to attend? They might not want the ugly attention this could bring.

Never happen. Pop is Team USA. Pop wants to be able to interact with Kawhi. Over the course of 3 weeks I guarantee you he would be able to orchestrate a 1-on-1 meeting with Kawhi. I think it is much more likely that Kawhi opts out.

[MoSpur02]

Not sure LeBron and Kawhi fit good together, which is why I want them to play together. They both need the ball in their hands to be effective. LeBron needs a PG who can create shots for others and for himself. He needs three point shooters on the outside who can catch and shoot.

This is why I think Kawhi all of a sudden wants to go to the Clippers.

[Mugen]

Do you think Jabari is jealous of Wright? Wright has the ESPN gig. Jabari is stuck with Express News.

Easily, even Wright mentions McDonald as one of his guys and no mention of Jabroni

[Captivus]

Mic e Beadle going off on this piece of this morning

Exactly!

[dbestpro]

Mic e Beadle going off on this piece of this morning

Nice take.

[Gino20]

I think Pop would want Kawhi with Team USA. As others have said, it may give Pop an opportunity to sit down with Kawhi one-on-one. Pop will have the authority to not allow Kawhi's "group" around the team during practices, film sessions, etc. I also think that this will give Pop one final chances to see if he could repair Kawhi's relationship with the Spurs organization. If anything, Kawhi will reject the idea of playing with Team USA. However, that will also look bad on his part based on the rumors of him being healthy and not playing basketball for nearly a year. In addition, it may give a bad image for not wanting to represent your country. In the end, him being there and showing he is healthy provides more leverage for the Spurs if they were to trade him.

In the end, I wouldn't anticipate a trade until sometime in August. This will give time for Pop to meet with Kawhi (if he attends the USA camp) and maybe settle their differences and see what happens with the Super Max since that can't be offered until July 16th, I think.

[BatManu20]

Woj: Carmelo and OKC “parting ways”

[BatManu20]

The Beads going in raw on Kawhi. Basically speaking all of our minds tbh. Good on her.

[BatManu20]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Melo wound up in LA with Lebron.

[Das Texan]

This could be fun from here on out. The Spurs are screwed as far as winning is concerned, but they can with Kawhi as much as possible now. To get his $20 million, he has to show up, but this time without the usual Spurs cocoon. Let him face a San Antonio media day after day no longer docile and deferential, but aching for a feeding frenzy to rip him apart.

I don’t think his derp ass can handle the hostility from teammates, the media, and fans. He’ll have an autistic panic attack and ghost the team again. Then after 30 days, boom! His NBA career is effectively over, unless and until he and Unca Dennis come begging on hands and knees.

are new media members being hired locally or something?

[coachmac87]

Wouldn’t be surprised if Melo wound up in LA with Lebron.

But he doesn’t fit...unless he wants to come off the bench.

[BatManu20]

Somebody needs to break Jabari today, anybody with a twitter, go at that clown hard

Been working him all morning tbh.

[lmbebo]

Woj: Carmelo and OKC “parting ways”

Not surprised. Cutting him saves OKC so much $$$. I think he ends up in LA or Houston.