Kawhi Leonard reportedly won’t set foot in Spurs’ locker room again
By Dave Daniels
Apparently it is now a matter of when and not if Kawhi Leonard gets traded by the San Antonio Spurs
The NBA offseason is about to heat up faster than a Volvo in the desert.
The major players are LeBron James and Paul George, but Kawhi Leonard has entered the mix as well. The San Antonio Spurs’ forward isn’t a free agent, but he has demanded a trade and made it clear that he won’t ever set foot in their locker room again.
According to ESPN reporting league sources:
"Leonard has been adamant that he doesn’t want to step into the San Antonio locker room again, and the Spurs have been adamant that they won’t be forced into a trade, or a timetable, prior to the February trading deadline, league sources said."
Leonard has made this situation almost impossible for the Spurs. He wants to be traded, but only to the Los Angeles Lakers or Los Angeles Clippers. The former team is San Antonio’s oldest and most hated rival in the league, and the latter team has no assets that appeal to the Spurs.
The Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Philadelphia 76ers have also made offers for Leonard, but they are able to low ball San Antonio because trading for him would have the chance of being a one-year rental.
Don’t expect the Spurs to panic trade Leonard like the Cavaliers did with Kyrie Irving. That’s not how Gregg Popovich rolls.
Lakers president Magic Johnson and general manager Rob Pelinka are under a lot of scrutiny at the moment, and the Spurs have no intention of gift-wrapping them a homegrown superstar. Johnson, in particular, has pressure on him after claiming that he would step down if the Lakers don’t land a superstar by next summer.
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The bottom line is that Leonard can’t control where the Spurs will trade him, and so he might have to wait until the 2019-2020 season if he truly wants to be in Los Angeles.