Kawhi Leonard is suddenly become the NBA’s most interesting person after winning the 2019 NBA Finals, the Finals MVP and seeing other top free agents fall to injury.
And Leonard will reportedly start his free agent courtship with the two teams from his home region of Southern California, the Clippers and the Lakers, according to Yahoo’s Chris Haynes.
The meetings would be held in Los Angeles, sources said.
While it is definitely an encouraging sign of sorts for both the Lakers and Clippers that meetings are already set, the Raptors do have the ability to pitch Leonard last, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
But that the Lakers have now created max cap space following the trade of Moe Wagner, Jemerrio Jones and Isaac Bonga to the Washington Wizards, they have given themselves the possibility of signing Leonard or another max level free agent without having to do any more cap gymnastics. However, Leonard signing would take a discount of about $700k, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
The move by the Lakers today gives them only three players on contract in LeBron James, Anthony Davis and Kyle Kuzma. But should they miss out on Leonard to either their Staples Center neighbors or the Raptors, they’ve maximized their ability to add talent via free agency with their latest moves. That alone is reason for Lakers fans to rejoice today.
