– Asking price too high
As one of the best players in the NBA, it is no surprise to see the San Antonio Spurs trying to get the most that they can for Kawhi Leonard. While still being a young player in the NBA, Leonard has accomplished quite a bit already. He has won an NBA Finals and also was named NBA Finals MVP when the Spurs were able to defeat LeBron James and the Miami Heat.
Since Leonard is such a great player, the Spurs are trying to get back what they would consider equal value. However, since it is has become known that Leonard would like to play for the Lakers, that has limited what the Spurs can do on the trade market. From the Lakers, there have been some reports that the Spurs would like Brandon Ingram, Kyle Kuzma, Josh Hart and draft picks.
While Leonard is great, this is far too steep of a price for the Lakers to pull off this deal. Over the past few years, the Lakers have worked hard building a young core. If they met the Spurs’ demands, they would be giving up a lot of that young core and also draft picks. For a team that has drafted so well recently, the Lakers certainly don’t want to be giving up draft picks.