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Damn, I feel for you guys. Leonard is one of very few irreplaceable guys in this league.

That's assuming he doesn't have medical issues.

WAs he lying about them all season long, to force his way out?

Some speculation that Spurs won't trade him to another WC team. But since he'll be a free agent after next year, he could say he'll only sign with such and such teams.

I heard he expressed LA as his main preference.

Talk about a betrayal, probably the Spurs' biggest WC rivals before the Warriors came along. And even then, the Spurs and Warriors never had those epic matchups in the playoffs like the Spurs and Lakers did.

This sucks.

Spurs say they haven't heard directly from Kawhi.

If that's true, that Kawhi didn't even give them the courtesy of telling them first, Spurs may trade him to a non contender with a high lotto pick this year and lotto picks to come in the future.

wco81 wrote:Spurs say they haven't heard directly from Kawhi.

If that's true, that Kawhi didn't even give them the courtesy of telling them first, Spurs may trade him to a non contender with a high lotto pick this year and lotto picks to come in the future.

Spurs don't want just draft picks with Aldridge here IMO. Unless they trade Aldridge also, they will want players that help them contend in return.

trade him to the kings for the 2nd pick

On a new team, he'd be eligible for 5 years $188 million, not $219 million.

Supposedly he's fine with leaving $31 million on the table.

And if he goes to a team that he doesn't stay with, then he can't even get $188 million by signing with another team.

Take that uncle!

Non spurs fan here but I hope he gets traded to LA and they pony up big time and when I mean big I mean big. Ingram/kuzma/hart/lonzo/picks because la could have kawhi and cap space but would be bare on talent besides a "big 3"

stylesofpunk wrote:Non spurs fan here but I hope he gets traded to LA and they pony up big time and when I mean big I mean big. Ingram/kuzma/hart/lonzo/picks because la could have kawhi and cap space but would be bare on talent besides a "big 3"

It's bad enough that Kawhi's demanding a trade in the first place, but I couldn't handle replacing him with Lonzo Ball and the circus that surrounds him, talented as he is. It wouldn't fit in San Antonio. Imagine Lavar ripping on Popovich for benching Lonzo or something. That might be the last straw for me.

Frankly, the last thing I'd want to do is trade him to the team he wants to go to after the nonsense he's pulled this past season.

I heard some local sports broadcasters here (Bay Area) speculate that Kawhi thinks he's not getting good off-court income opportunities in San Antonio.

He's done local ads down there and they're fine. But apparently people have convinced Kawhi that he could be making way more in a big market.

So maybe that's why he's willing to walk away from a bigger contract in San Antonio.

But if he did go to LA and Lebron joined him there, wouldn't he be playing second-fiddle to Lebron, both on the court and off the court?

Baphomet wrote:

stylesofpunk wrote:Non spurs fan here but I hope he gets traded to LA and they pony up big time and when I mean big I mean big. Ingram/kuzma/hart/lonzo/picks because la could have kawhi and cap space but would be bare on talent besides a "big 3"

It's bad enough that Kawhi's demanding a trade in the first place, but I couldn't handle replacing him with Lonzo Ball and the circus that surrounds him, talented as he is. It wouldn't fit in San Antonio. Imagine Lavar ripping on Popovich for benching Lonzo or something. That might be the last straw for me.

Frankly, the last thing I'd want to do is trade him to the team he wants to go to after the nonsense he's pulled this past season.

Dont need to keep him could trade him to another team for a asset just want to watch these Laker Fans to go OMG we got Kawhi but now we got no depth I hope LA signs some bad contracts this offseason like goes for Capela on a max deal

Sorry guys. Better to know now and get something at least. Hope you get a haul (and not the Lakers).

wco81 wrote:I heard some local sports broadcasters here (Bay Area) speculate that Kawhi thinks he's not getting good off-court income opportunities in San Antonio.

He's done local ads down there and they're fine. But apparently people have convinced Kawhi that he could be making way more in a big market.

So maybe that's why he's willing to walk away from a bigger contract in San Antonio.

But if he did go to LA and Lebron joined him there, wouldn't he be playing second-fiddle to Lebron, both on the court and off the court?

Sounds about right. It’s such a shame that corporate America controls the NBA to this degree though. The way I see it is that San Antonio is a top ten city in terms of population. If this isn’t a sufficient market then the NBA needs to fold or reassess its current strategy. In the meantime boycott Time Warner, aka the Lakers sugar daddy.

I seem to recall that he had to wait to sign his second contract? Like Pop told him to be patient for another year?

Maybe he remembers that?

wco81 wrote:I heard some local sports broadcasters here (Bay Area) speculate that Kawhi thinks he's not getting good off-court income opportunities in San Antonio.

He's done local ads down there and they're fine. But apparently people have convinced Kawhi that he could be making way more in a big market.

So maybe that's why he's willing to walk away from a bigger contract in San Antonio.

But if he did go to LA and Lebron joined him there, wouldn't he be playing second-fiddle to Lebron, both on the court and off the court?

Changing locations won't change his temperament. He is how he is. Even Nike in the shoe deal negotiations basically said he's not as marketable because of his personality and that was reflected in their offer. They also said that he wasn't as willing to do the marketing, so I find the "Kawhi wants do to more ads" claim dubious.

But on a more general point, when Vince Carter was in Toronto, he had no trouble getting great ads. Is LeBron hampered by being in Cleveland? Was Kyrie when on the Cavs? It's not where you are, it's who you are.

Stays in touch with Pop, blindsides Pop with this news. I just don't have the words for how bad that is.

Even with something as big as this, Leonard has others do the hard part. I'm baffled at who this guy is, but regardless of how he thought he was mishandled or mistreated, he has a responsibility to the team, and just as a person in handling things the right way. This isn't it. Again.

I have to say I've been surprised how many apologists Leonard has had among Spurs fans all this time. I guess for some people he can literally do nothing wrong.

This player is a terrible person, I don't care what his abilities are. I couldn't root for him.

Leonard has already sat out a year so I doubt he wouldn’t do so again. He will force his way to a large market team. Do the Spurs trade him now and get what they can. Or do they wait a year and see if things change?

The problem is LA can’t give you a pick until 2020 and I don’t think you can take Ingram, Ball and Deng all in salary.

GREY 1769 wrote:

wco81 wrote:I heard some local sports broadcasters here (Bay Area) speculate that Kawhi thinks he's not getting good off-court income opportunities in San Antonio.

He's done local ads down there and they're fine. But apparently people have convinced Kawhi that he could be making way more in a big market.

So maybe that's why he's willing to walk away from a bigger contract in San Antonio.

But if he did go to LA and Lebron joined him there, wouldn't he be playing second-fiddle to Lebron, both on the court and off the court?

Changing locations won't change his temperament. He is how he is. Even Nike in the shoe deal negotiations basically said he's not as marketable because of his personality and that was reflected in their offer. They also said that he wasn't as willing to do the marketing, so I find the "Kawhi wants do to more ads" claim dubious.

But on a more general point, when Vince Carter was in Toronto, he had no trouble getting great ads. Is LeBron hampered by being in Cleveland? Was Kyrie when on the Cavs? It's not where you are, it's who you are.

The speculation is that his uncle or some others around him has convinced him that if he went to a bigger market, they'd be getting bigger offers.

The problem isn't his personality but market size, or so the theory goes about what KL has bought into.