Recent Lakers rumors have been about San Antonio Spurs forward, Kawhi Leonard. Does he want to come play for the Lakers?
With the NBA season in the playoff swing, recent Lakers rumors have come out about what the plan will be for this coming offseason. With Paul George and LeBron James being free agents this offseason, the Lakers have been closely linked to both of them.
After a trade during the season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Lakers will now have the ability to sign two max free agents this offseason, which makes them one of the premier destinations for free agents.
With a young core and money to spend, the Lakers could be in a position to go from missing the playoffs to one of the best teams in the Western Conference. However, a recent development in San Antonio might make this offseason even more interesting. After missing nearly the entire season, it appears like Kawhi Leonard wants out of San Antonio, and Los Angeles appears to be his preferred destination.
Recently, Sean Deveney of Sporting News spoke with one executive who believes Leonard wants to play with the Lakers. Here’s what he had to say.
"“I think they go in hard for Leonard once the season is over and once the dust settles in San Antonio,” one executive told Sporting News. “(Leonard) wants to go to LA. There probably won’t be public demands on that, but he has leverage. He is going to be a free agent (in 2019). He’s an LA guy and he can just let teams know he won’t re-sign next year with anyone but the Lakers.”"
As one of the best if not the best two-way player in the NBA when healthy, Leonard would be an excellent addition for the Lakers. However, Leonard is still under contract for next season, and if he wants out that badly, the Spurs might look to trade him before he hits free agency.
While the Lakers certainly do have a lot of great young assets that would be appealing, losing players from their young core would certainly hurt. Seeing how the Lakers have gone about things under their new regime, it would be very surprising to see them trade players from their young core in order to trade for Leonard.
Next: Re-Drafting the 2017 NBA Draft
In all likelihood, the Lakers will go with their original plan of pursuing James and George this offseason. However, Leonard will be an interesting name to keep an eye on this offseason for the Lakers.