Step #3
Sign Kawhi Leonard over the summer
Some people around the NBA expect Kawhi to sign a 5-year max with the Raptors over the summer. There’s one problem with that theory, if Marc Gasol opts into his player option for next season, it will be almost impossible for the Raptors to re-sign Leonard. Maybe the Raptors front-office knows something that I don’t or maybe they have a plan in place if Leonard does decide to stay, but as I far as I can tell it will be very hard for them to give Kawhi a max deal without going well over the salary cap limit for the 2019-2020 season.
Most experts around the league believe Kawhi will return to LA to play for the Clippers. Everyone knows that Leonard’s been pining to come back to his hometown for some time now, but he’s said (maybe) that he doesn’t want to play Robin to LeBron’s Batman.
Luckily if the Lakers follow my 4-step plan LeBron will get traded to Portland over the summer, so Kawhi wouldn’t have to worry about playing with an aging ex-MVP. Instead he’d get to run with Lillard, Ball, Ingram, Kuzma, and Hart.
If LeBron were traded to Portland for Lillard it would be hard to imagine Kawhi passing up an opportunity to play for the Lakers and instead signing with the Clippers. Next season the Clippers two best players under contract will be Lou Williams and Montrezl Harrell. Why would Kawhi wish to play with them versus the Lakers core?
If the Lakers were able to trade LeBron for Lillard and if the Raptors didn’t make it to the finals, I’d be shocked if Kawhi stayed up north in Canada, or if he chose to play for the Clippers instead of the Purple and Gold.
If Kawhi signed with LA, here’s what the Lakers lineup would look like next season:
Starters (option #1)
- PG: Lillard
- SG: Ingram
- SF: Leonard
- PF: Kuzma
- C: Looney? Noel? McGee?
Starters (Option #2)
- PG: Lillard
- SG: Ball
- SF: Ingram
- PF: Leonard
- C: Looney? Noel? McGee?
Bench
- Either Ball or Kuzma
- Hart
- Patrick Beverly?
- M. Leonard
- Wagner?