Enough leverage to get DeRozan in exchange for him. He's a better player than anyone the Lakers or Sixers were willing to trade.

The Spurs did the best they could here - they sent Leonard to the eastern conference and added an all star to a team that made the playoffs this season. They also get a first round pick next year.

Also I think it's hilarious that they sent Leonard to the least LA-like city in the NBA. Don't fuck with Pop, kids.

7/18/2018 12:04:16 PM

My comment was directed at you people who thought the Lakers would mortgage their future for Kawhi now, as opposed to getting him next year. Well, mostly at TT10

7/18/2018 12:20:41 PM

Spurs did great, considering they had no leverage.

Will be interesting to see what Kawhi does in Toronto...if he does anything at all.

7/18/2018 12:55:55 PM

Well, if he refuses to play he won't be a free agent next year.

7/18/2018 1:20:04 PM

^Why would he refuse to play?

Simply go out there, give 50%, force them to bench you.

7/18/2018 2:18:43 PM

Yeah, because that will help him get a max contract in free agency.

Leonard clearly has the worst advisers in the NBA.

7/18/2018 4:54:29 PM

Why didn't he go to LA? I thought LA had all the leverage?

7/18/2018 5:11:57 PM

7/18/2018 5:24:03 PM

Quote :

" you people who thought the Lakers would mortgage their future for Kawhi now"

when did i say that? what i did say was:

Quote :

"The Spurs could trade Kawhi to a team like Boston Toronto in this offseason. What kind of leverage do the Lakers have in that scenario?"

7/18/2018 5:35:19 PM

As I said earlier, the Lakers can wait a year and see if they even want him. We can play semantics if you want, but my point wasn't difficult to understand. Several people were thinking the Lakers would be willing to give up a ton to get him and that simply wasn't the case.

In reality, the Raptors aren't really the 'winners' in this situation either- at least not yet. They gave up their best or second best player (it's somewhat debatable) for someone who doesn't even want to play for them, has questionable health issues, and will likely make a beeline to LA after the season is over. It was a huge gamble that neither the Lakers or 6ers wanted to take. All things considered, the Spurs come out ahead a bit of TO because they got rid of a 'worthless' player (in the sense that he wasn't going to do jack shit for them next season) and they got a healthy DeRozan and picks.

The Lakers, Spurs, and Raptors won't beat the Warriors next year, but I think LA is positioned better than the other two (Hello, Lebron) down the road.

7/18/2018 6:51:59 PM

Quote :

"someone who doesn't even want to play for them"

This doesn't really matter at all. Barring his camp convincing him to do something absolutely idiotic (sitting out more than the first 30 days of the season, thus preventing him from being a free agent) he's going to play for the Raptors. If he sits out, the Raptors don't have to let him sign with another team, as they would keep his rights. Plus he would make $0 because they'd fine him.

If he tries to claim his injury is keeping him from playing, the Raptors will use their rights from the CBA to bring in a 3rd party doctor who will be allowed access to all of his medical records and make the final call on if he's medically cleared to play. In this instance, either some damaging medical data will become known to every NBA team (his quad injury is really bad) or he's fine and teams will question whether he'll try that on them as well eventually.

Basically, if Leonard wants to be a free agent next summer, he needs to play for the Raptors this coming season. The better he plays, the better it is for him in future seasons.

7/18/2018 7:30:16 PM

Quote :

"Several people were thinking the Lakers would be willing to give up a ton to get him and that simply wasn't the case. "

Who says they weren't willing to do it and didn't try? But the Spurs were never going to trade him to another Western conference team unless it was a ridiculous offer. The Spurs got to dictate who Kawhi played for next year, hence them having all the leverage. But if the Lakers "won" by not having Kawhi for this upcoming season, then ok.

7/18/2018 7:46:48 PM

^^I wasn't suggesting he wasn't going to play at all. I'm suggesting he will play half-assed, or maybe two-thirds-assed since his heart/mind aren't really interested in being a Raptor. Maybe he will actually play lights out and the Raptors will make it to the Finals and he will change his mind, but the Raptors are taking on an enormous risk that only benefits them long-term if A) he's actually 100% healthy, B) he's 100% committed to playing his best, C) the Raptors get close enough to winning a title that he decides to stay put instead of leaving. Maybe none of that needs to happen for him to play well and stay long-term, but I guess we shall see.

I think the issue here is that the whole situation is weird AF and since he's been so passive-aggressive about everything, it's hard to tell who he really is anymore.

^, the Lakers 'won' in the sense that they didn't give up way too much now for a huge risk, when they can wait another year. As I said, none of those teams will beat a healthy/full-strength Ws team, so thinking short-term, win-now isn't a great strategy, which is why this off-season has been kinda meh compared to last year's (Lebron aside).



[Edited on July 18, 2018 at 7:56 PM. Reason : injuries happen, just ask Kawhi]

7/18/2018 7:51:19 PM

We don't know what the Lakers roster will look like this coming season. What if they get another max contract guy and can't even afford Kawhi next year?

7/18/2018 7:56:35 PM

I mean maybe I'm overvaluing Lebron and his potential to make the Lakers a competitive team sooner than later, along with their youth/potential talent. I consider them a more serious threat to muh Dubz than a rebuilding Spurs team or a Raptors team with Kawhi as a huge question mark.

7/18/2018 8:04:50 PM

Toronto did this because they weren't good enough with DeRozan to win the East. Obviously they're taking a gamble on Leonard and going all in for this year. A healthy Leonard gives them easily the best player in the conference and a proven playoff performer. Their competitive window is pretty small because Philly and Boston are younger and are just going to improve over the next couple years. Might as well go for broke this year and if/when Leonard leaves they just start a rebuild.

7/18/2018 9:09:36 PM

I'll agree with most of that except that Lebron James isn't in the East anymore, and he was the hurdle they couldn't get over for the past three seasons. They had the best record in the East last season and their best record in franchise history.

7/18/2018 9:35:11 PM

76ers and Boston [healthy or not healthy] are just as good as the Raptors. Its a risk, but they're just running in place if they don't do anything. If it doesn't work, then just rebuild.

7/19/2018 7:36:27 AM

Quote :

"Unless Porter’s back is totally fucked, i would prefer to see the hornets take the risk and draft him. Gotta roll the dice at some point. Hornets got a good stock of 2nd round picks in the future though."

His back is totally fine.

http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/24141034/denver-nuggets-first-round-draft-pick-michael-porter-jr-second-back-surgery

7/19/2018 4:34:35 PM

[Edited on July 19, 2018 at 7:52 PM. Reason : .]

7/19/2018 7:50:45 PM