After about a week-long wait on a decision from free agent Kawhi Leonard, the All-Star forward and reigning Finals MVP has decided on the Los Angeles Clippers, per reports around the league.
The Lakers had been holding out on making any huge free agency decisions hoping to add Leonard to a LeBron James-Anthony Davis core, but lost out on their bid for Leonard to a Clippers team that many counted out as the process wained on.
Leonard reportedly met with the Lakers last week, both officially and unofficially by way of Magic Johnson. However, as Leonard was taking meetings with teams around the league, he also was talking meetings with Paul George on potentially teaming up in Los Angeles across the hall from the Lakers.
With Leonard hoping to team up with George, the Clippers were quietly working on a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder to send stand-out rookie Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari to Oklahoma for George.
Leonard, of course, will receive a max-deal with the Clippers and will intensify a rivalry between the two teams that has almost never seen both teams having elite-level players at the same time.
For the Lakers, it’s not necessarily the end of the world. They played this about as well as they could and ultimately lost out to a Clippers franchise that was able to pull off a trade for another max-level, two-way wing to an already fun, deep roster.
