The Spurs are fully engaged in trade talks with several teams on Kawhi Leonard, including the Lakers and Celtics, league sources tell ESPN. Boston has long had the assets that the Spurs most covet in a potential Leonard trade.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 28, 2018
The Spurs can still play long game with Leonard, try to repair relationship and get to a place where they're comfortable offering $219M super max. The urgency to get a deal done belongs to Lakers now, but circumstances and leverage can change quickly. https://t.co/RIralTBUe9
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 28, 2018
As I’ve said in the past, the Boston Celtics trading for Kawhi Leonard hinges on two things: Ownership willing to pay for a very expensive team and how quickly they think Jaylen Brown can become Kawhi-light.
So if the Celtics really are actively looking to give up a bunch of assets for Kawhi, then they probably think they can make a bunch of money as a super-team ready to take down the Warriors and the time to win is now.
OR…
As Chuck just mentioned to me offline, the Celtics could just be driving up the price for Kawhi so the Lakers can gut their team for him.
The Lakers want a deal done ASAP because adding Kawhi could be what ultimately makes LeBron James decide to leave Cleveland (I don’t think it’s 100% guaranteed at this point). The Celtics can swing and miss on this deal and be fine with what they have, so there’s no urgency on Boston’s end.
Either way, things are heating up, but as Woj says the leverage still belongs to San Antonio for the time being. I still think the long-game favors Boston, so we’ll see how intense things get.
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