The San Antonio Spurs haven’t really made much progress in moving Kawhi Leonard. If it wasn’t San Antonio, I might be surprised that Kawhi has spent this much time on the market.
He seemingly wants to be a Laker, and Los Angeles is in a strong position to just sign him once he walks next summer, so the Spurs lack a lot of leverage there.
The reports of Toronto’s interest could net the Spurs a decent return if the Raptors feel good about their chances of re-signing Leonard after spending a season soaking up their culture.
The Spurs will reportedly not be getting that kind of return from Boston, which is one of the teams discussing a move for Leonard.
So far, the Sixers have held out three players — Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz — in talks. Boston hasn’t included five players, including Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Kyrie Irving, Gordon Hayward and Al Horford. The Celtics and Sixers have offered pick-heavy packages that haven’t moved the Spurs, league sources said.
The Sixers have the most insight into his medical condition because Leonard used a New York-based team’s physician, Jonathan Glashow, as one of his primary outside physicians. “In some ways, [Leonard’s] has made it so the Sixers know more about his recovery than the Spurs do,” one rival executive said.
Recently, there has been less traction around the possibility of the Celtics’ and Sixers’ talks with the Spurs. Those teams are well-positioned for the future, and aren’t in the marketplace to be risk-takers. And Leonard — with his murky health picture, his desire to be in Los Angeles — constitutes a risk on some levels.
This makes perfect sense for Boston. They’re fine where they are, and while adding Leonard would make them super-expensive, it would be a no-brainer if it could be done without giving up any of those five players.
That won’t get the deal done, though, so we wait and see. I’m personally rooting for Gregg Popovich to sit down with Kawhi at camp, talk to him, and come to the realization that others in his life are pulling a lot of strings and Kawhi is actually happy to stay in San Antonio.
I doubt that, but at this point, I’d rather have that than any of the other options.
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