Vindication For The Spurs? What Kawhi Leonard's Signing With The Clippers Means For San Antonio

[Capt Bringdown]

Sorry man - not on this one. Going to LA was inevitable - it has been for many years now. I recall that's true back in 2015 rumors started that KL was going to reject the super max if offered. People in denial came up with fake news that the Spurs weren't planning to offer max when it was the other way around

No need to apologize. There are many moving parts in this saga, and all are open to interpretation.
I believe that PG was the deal-breaker. If the Clips couldn't get him, and/or if the Raptors got him, Leonard would have gone back to Toronto.
I don't buy that LA was inevitable.

But even if, for the sake of argument, the Spurs still aren't vindicated. They handled the situation poorly.
/sorted

[Spurtacular]

paging Spurtacular for his preferred fap material, if true

Lite desperately trying to turn tables.

[BSfromTX]

all i know the spurms patfo shouldve taken the clippers offer whatever it was... harris 1yr rental + 15+16th picks is still fkn better then ddr the fkn scrub, had the spurs did last season with the rental it be part of the tanking for higher picks

this.. It was obvious Pop was getting crappy offers and at the time DD seemed like a decent consolation, but this year proved otherwise. Hind sight is 20/20. I admit I thought DD would have performed better, but he didn't, so it would be nice to have a couple picks and not that huge contract.

[YGWHI]

Dude is a loser

Nah...

So, in more than one sense, I also frankly think that our organization has re-gained a lot of media credibility...expecially in the behavior about injuries (where we've always been considered extra cautious before the n° 2 drama) in front of other supposed "advanced" teams...

IDK...ESPN talked about this Summer League game as "a game between the two teams couldn't keep Kawhi" "two teams Kawhi doesn't play for"...They didn't even mention the teams.

The good thing? Lonnie Walker will save us. He's destroying everyone in these last games. Love how he's playing...To be honest I'm not afraid of Clippers Lakers Rockets Jazz this new Spurs team seems to be really good and balanced.

[tenbeersbold]

Nah...

First ever player to take off a third of the season....




IDK...ESPN talked about this Summer League game as "a game between the two teams couldn't keep Kawhi" "two teams Kawhi doesn't play for"...They didn't even mention the teams.

The good thing? Lonnie Walker will save us. He's destroying everyone in these last games. Love how he's playing...To be honest I'm not afraid of Clippers Lakers Rockets Jazz this new Spurs team seems to be really good and balanced.

[Brazil]

No need to apologize. There are many moving parts in this saga, and all are open to interpretation.
I believe that PG was the deal-breaker. If the Clips couldn't get him, and/or if the Raptors got him, Leonard would have gone back to Toronto.
I don't buy that LA was inevitable.

But even if, for the sake of argument, the Spurs still aren't vindicated. They handled the situation poorly.
/sorted

dude let the opportunity to defend his ring to go to LA.. How spurs handled the situation poorly ? did the raptors handle the situation poorly ?

It does not matter.. dude was gone

u suffering from some stockholm syndrom bro

[Ed Helicopter Jones]

dude let the opportunity to defend his ring to go to LA.. How spurs handled the situation poorly ? did the raptors handle the situation poorly ?

It does not matter.. dude was gone

u suffering from some stockholm syndrom bro

True. As Timvp mentioned, Kawhi wanted to leave starting in 2015. He was gone no matter what the Spurs did. The whole country of Canada sucked his balls and he wouldn’t stay. Not sure if there’s Karma or not. We’ll see.

[duncan2k5]

You need to be drug tested for this claim. Those who think that Toronto wasn't stacked last year better stop talking about bball altogether. FVV was the second coming of Curry for s sake.

Stacked? Van Vleet is as good as Curry? U guys are ing nuts... U were the same ones laughing at him when he was sent there! Yall called it a waste! If they were REALLY stacked, yall would have been pissed reacted as if he was sent to the warriors... Now he won them a ring, yall calling Toronto stacked... Then in a other post, yall be saying now Toronto is in shambles and will go back to being a nothing team... Yall change ur arguments depending on whether or not ur arguing with me or someone else... Lmfao

[duncan2k5]

DENIAL



ANGER



BARGAINING


well, you are making progree bro.. good fo ya

Getting there... Hope ur close behind

[duncan2k5]

Completely different situations but I suspect you know that. Kawhi didn’t play for a year and his injury didn’t require surgery and really nobody knew what was wrong with him. We do know that the Celtics didn’t even offer Jaylen ing Brown. The 76ers wouldn’t even offer Fultz and the Lakers only offered Bradon Ingram (who is a taller version of DeRozan at best). We also couldn’t hold Kawhi to showcase that he was healthy bc his uncle said Kawhi would sit out the next year if we didn’t trade him. We were lucky to even get the Toronto offer tbh. Of the 4 situations, which team would you have traded him to? Keep in mind Magic Johnson literally said in live TV that he didn’t offer the same package for Kawhi that he did for AD so bringing up AD to begin with is ridiculous.

U guys really think the same front office that threw away money to Patty Mills and Pau Gasol could do no wrong in the Kawhi trade? Lol... Alright bro... Even the Clippers deal was better than taking on DDR's contract... We gave the raptors a championship for a bad contract... Extremely bad deal... No one will agree with me now that I said it, but after the finals, NUMEROUS ppl were saying the same thing... Now look at them pretend like they never said it

[Brazil]

Getting there... Hope ur close behind

I am in acceptance level for a while bro... you will get there slowly but surely

[Capt Bringdown]

Green: Kawhi wanted 'his own route,' not Lakers -->>

"I think all of it was a shock to me," Green said on a conference call with reporters Thursday. "Except not as much of a shock Kawhi going to L.A. The Clippers, anyway. I didn't see him coming this route [to the Lakers].

"I feel like he wanted to go his own route. I think it was between them and going back (to Toronto).

[dbreiden83080]

No need to apologize. There are many moving parts in this saga, and all are open to interpretation.
I believe that PG was the deal-breaker. If the Clips couldn't get him, and/or if the Raptors got him, Leonard would have gone back to Toronto.
I don't buy that LA was inevitable.

But even if, for the sake of argument, the Spurs still aren't vindicated. They handled the situation poorly.
/sorted

The only thing that can be argued would be possibly they could’ve got more back in a trade. But I would argue that was not the case either. Because he torpedoed his trade value with the bull he pulled. That was kind of the whole point. Trying to manipulate where he would go by torpedoing his value. Toronto now officially got punched in the ing guts by this guy. They got lucky to win the championship. Honeymoon is over now. He ed you guys too.

[dbreiden83080]

U guys really think the same front office that threw away money to Patty Mills and Pau Gasol could do no wrong in the Kawhi trade? Lol... Alright bro... Even the Clippers deal was better than taking on DDR's contract... We gave the raptors a championship for a bad contract... Extremely bad deal... No one will agree with me now that I said it, but after the finals, NUMEROUS ppl were saying the same thing... Now look at them pretend like they never said it

DD Is a good player, it is amazing how many people on him around here unfairly in my opinion. Of course he is nowhere near the player Leonard is. Leonard when healthy is a top three player in the league. But it’s not the Spurs fault they lost Leonard. He wanted out, and he planned with his uncle a way to get out. That’s clear as ing daylight now. Where is he? Los Angeles. He was rumored to want to be there 3 years ago. This was always happening.

[Gervin44Silas13]

Raptors got the Chip by default.....if GS was at full strenght they wouldnt have won.....Raps got lucky.....It was clear he didnt want to be in SA..... him!!!

[Gervin44Silas13]

True in all aspects didn't know about the 2015 rumors he already knew what he was gonna do......sucks for us

Man, the shear delusion of some people on here...
Did Pop and the FO make mistakes? Absolutely. But to those who believe there was ever a chance nephew was ever going to stay... I got nothing for them.
He's wanted to go back to Cali ever since he left. Uncle parlayed that desire into an opportunity to make more money. This is not just his uncle, this is his AGENT. Would he rather get 10% of the super max kicker or 10% of all the endorsement money nephew could make in a major market? These shoe deals are in the hundreds of millions and he wasn't getting a major endorsement in SA. Period. HEB and a 20 million clothing line was the best he could get here.
The evidence all supports this:
At the same time he's sitting out the season his uncle is canceling the contract with Jordan brand because he wasn't making "MVP money";
He sits out the season before he demands a trade so he doesn't risk injury and now he's on the last year of the contract (more likely to be traded);
While he's in the middle of his playoff run uncle is suing Nike for the rights to the klaw logo so he's ready for his new brand this season;
And finally he just left a team that have him the rest he wanted and the support he needed.
Now I will concede that he might have stayed with Toronto if they had brought in George, but that has to do with uncle being comfortable with his endorsements in Canada (being the star player in the only basketball team in Canada).
In the end this came down to two factors: nephew wanted to move to Cali and uncle wanted more money. Simple. The ONLY thing the spurs could have done to hold him is to move to LA.

[Ocotillo]

I suspect Nephew took a short deal with the Clips and may move to the Lakers when Lebron is out of the way. Not sure that would be in two years though.