Now that Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka has done his job by creating $32 million in cap space, LeBron James and Anthony Davis are determined to have a Klutch finish to their last few weeks of maneuvering.
Both James and Davis are expected to be in the Lakers pitch meeting with Kawhi Leonard, according to The Athletic’s Sam Amick. This lines up with a lot of the latest chatter that LeBron and Anthony Davis themselves are heading up the recruiting efforts for the Lakers, selling free agents on the potential of their team.
While there are more people than ever expecting Leonard to stay in Toronto, at least on a short-term deal, the presence of the Lakers and their cap space cannot be taken for granted.
LeBron himself has been working on Leonard for over a year. Last summer he arranged an offseason workout with Leonard and during their last regular season meeting, James was overheard telling Leonard ‘we’ll be in touch.’ All of this came after LeBron appeared to be giving Kawhi a lot of attention during the 2019 All-Star weekend.
With Davis now in the picture, the Lakers have the ability to sell Leonard on having other players to share the load and his native Southern California. But after the Raptors masterfully load-managed him by only playing him in 60 regular season games while still snagging the No. 2 seed in the East, the Lakers cannot demonstrated a recent track record of taking care of their prized star players.
Their best hope of landing Leonard appears to be the idea of a James, Davis and his native Southern California, a hope that has been seized by their two new leaders.
