Spurs open to trading Kawhi to Lakers

[DROB27]

I am probably one of the only non-Lakers fans that hopes this happens. I miss the Lakers being a great team, because I think it's more entertaining for the league. If Lakers can land Kawhi, I think all the pieces fall into place and they also get LeBron + 3rd star.

I think deep down LeBron wants to go to LA because of the weather and off-court advantages, but he won't go there unless he knows he can compete for a chip right away. George isn't enough, but Kawhi absolutely is. If they don't land Leonard, I see James going to Houston or maybe Philly instead.

If LeBron can bring the Lakers another championship or two, his legacy will skyrocket because he'll absorb all the Kobe fans who have hated him for the past 10 years. If he does that, they'll jump on his brand as the GOAT and he may be able to surpass Jordan's legacy.

In many ways, if James joins a new team to try and win a few more chips, they'll mean more in LA for his overall legacy and brand, plus he will have so many other opportunities.

Let's be honest, LA is an awesome city, and James wants to be there, but only if it's a super team.

I hope this happens - send Leonard to LA and let's see how the other chips fall.

Lebron will never Surpass Jordan ..

This will literally be the third super team he had to create .

[CIN-C-STAR]

The Spurs never ruled any trade partners out in the first place, so this isn't anything new being reported.
There is just additional smoke now because it's obvious Lebron wants to go to the Lakers but not without at least one other good player on the roster.
Lebron is pressuring the Lakers to make it happen, but the Spurs aren't too excited about being pawns in the Lakers-Kawhi tampering saga, nor should they be. They will either get a massive haul -- Ingram, Kuzma, no Deng, additional picks, and probably a S&T Randle to match salary -- or they will keep Kawhi and offer him the supermax and trade him down the road to a different team if necessary.
Those are most likely the Lakers' choices. I can see Magic folding and giving up the farm once he realizes it's Kawhi & Lebron or neither and another season in the late lottery.

Give up what farm though? Ingram's injury prone and has shown no flash of being anything more than average in his career thus far (neg RPM, sub-15 PER). Kuz is one-dimensional trash putting up numbers on a bad Laker team(Clarkson and Nance Jr for example). They have no decent picks to speak of. And max contract Randle as a sweetener . That's not a farm, that's a death sentence for
the Spurs and only accelerates the process for the franchise to move out of SA. Might as well hold onto Kawhi until the supermax deadline in mid-October.

Fair points.
A half-acre farm in Kansas during the Dust Bowl is still a farm though

[-Spyda-]

Lakers are BACK

[DieYoung]

This confirms what I expected. The Celtics can put together the best package for Kawhi, but Ainge is cold-blooded when it comes to negotiating, and he is under 0 pressure to get a deal done.

The Sixers package isn’t nearly as enticing as everybody believes.

The Lakers can legitimately offer the best, realistic package. The most I’d offer Ingram and Kuzma, but they’d HAVE to take Deng. No extra picks.

That’s fair for everyone.

Would the Lakers rather give up Ingram or Ball though if they know LeBron is coming?

They'd almost certainly rather give up Ball, but the Spurs have seemingly no interest in Ball. I don't know how any trade talks progress if we take Ingram off the table.

A long point guard that's a cancer on offense and only has upside as a rebounder/defender? Spurs already have that in Murray. Those type of Rondo point guards are being phased out of the current NBA. Even worse is Lonzo's dad. Spurs did not enjoy dealing with Leonard's uncle. They've had enough with family meddling in the business side of the team.

[woosah]

Those are the same reports i am referring to. You took that as shut them out forever or would never speak to them? I didn't so i guess that's why we see it different. My same stance is there. They never said they would not trade with the lakers. Now is not their timeline based on what Buford said.

The reports were that the Spurs were listening to offers from other teams, but didn't even listen to an offer from the Lakers. This new ESPN report and subsequent WT is directly referring to and refuting that report. We've had the potential Clippers offer leak as well, which highlights the purported asymmetry in the Spurs dealing with the Lakers. There've been multiple opinions that the Spurs won't do it. There was a thread on here mocking Laker fans as an aftermath. I don't know why you're finessing this.

Do you have a quote from the article (not the WT summation because that flat out says things that are not in the article) that says this? I don't have a dog in this no reason for me to finesse anything lol. I do see smoke from ESPN. As for offers from other teams, the reports i saw says they take the offers and they will consider later. They have not discussed anything with anyone, just gathering info from what i saw. Maybe you saw something different, so if you want to post those quotes too then cool.

[baller16]

Makes sense. That trade him only to the Eastern conference thing sounded like a non-Spurs type of thing to do. They just don't seem like a team that makes decisions based on emotion and pettiness. You take the best offer available regardless of conference/rivalry/etc.

[bebopdeluxe]

The Spurs never ruled any trade partners out in the first place, so this isn't anything new being reported.
There is just additional smoke now because it's obvious Lebron wants to go to the Lakers but not without at least one other good player on the roster.
Lebron is pressuring the Lakers to make it happen, but the Spurs aren't too excited about being pawns in the Lakers-Kawhi tampering saga, nor should they be. They will either get a massive haul -- Ingram, Kuzma, no Deng, additional picks, and probably a S&T Randle to match salary -- or they will keep Kawhi and offer him the supermax and trade him down the road to a different team if necessary.
Those are most likely the Lakers' choices. I can see Magic folding and giving up the farm once he realizes it's Kawhi & Lebron or neither and another season in the late lottery.

Give up what farm though? Ingram's injury prone and has shown no flash of being anything more than average in his career thus far (neg RPM, sub-15 PER). Kuz is one-dimensional trash putting up numbers on a bad Laker team(Clarkson and Nance Jr for example). They have no decent picks to speak of. And max contract Randle as a sweetener . That's not a farm, that's a death sentence for
the Spurs and only accelerates the process for the franchise to move out of SA. Might as well hold onto Kawhi until the supermax deadline in mid-October.

Seriously.

A Sixers deal with Saric, Covington, Zhaire Smith (who the Spurs were going to draft at 18, and who wore the 2 at TT in homage to Kawhi) and the MIA unrestricted 2021 pick blows that ish Lakers offer out of the water every day that ends in y.

Personally, I would not want to give up all of that, but simply from a standpoint of VALUE, the Lakers deals being thrown out there are STRAIGHT TRASH relative to the Sixers offer I just listed.

[levon]

Do you have a quote from the article (not the WT summation because that flat out says things that are not in the article) that says this? I don't have a dog in this no reason for me to finesse anything lol. I do see smoke from ESPN. As for offers from other teams, the reports i saw says they take the offers and they will consider later. They have not discussed anything with anyone, just gathering info from what i saw. Maybe you saw something different, so if you want to post those quotes too then cool.

The Spurs being open to trading with the Lakers came from directly from Ramona Shelburne on ESPN 710 today. The WT is linking it to this article because Ramona participated in the ESPN article, and ironically also authored the "shut out" report. She's the LA front office mouthpiece, so I'm not sure what's going on here but I agree it's all smoke. I think a lot of teams are trying to force the Lakers' hand and LA is trying to control the narrative and justify its decisions.

[Soupman]

Ingram, Kuzma, Deng, and Ball from LA for Kawhi
Ball and Deng to Phoenix for Bender and Dudley
Kawhi from Spurs for Ingram, Kuzma, Bender, Dudley

It's most likely going to be a 3 team trade. Maybe with the Knicks,Raptors,Bulls or Hawks? What about Bradley Beal?

[Cavsfansince84]

Makes sense. That trade him only to the Eastern conference thing sounded like a non-Spurs type of thing to do. They just don't seem like a team that makes decisions based on emotion and pettiness. You take the best offer available regardless of conference/rivalry/etc.

I don't think moving a top 5 player out of your conference is necessarily a petty/emotion based decision. With a guy that is that good and that young you'd rather lessen the chances of having to face him on a regular basis or in the playoffs if you plan on contending in the next 4-5 years which the Spurs prob do.

[Johnny Bball]

Spurs are making this trade like a public tender. Put your best bid package forward. Anyone that doesn’t make the top 2 is out of the running form further conversation. That looks like what the spurs are trying to convey. They can’t lose that way.

[infinite11285]

I am probably one of the only non-Lakers fans that hopes this happens. I miss the Lakers being a great team, because I think it's more entertaining for the league. If Lakers can land Kawhi, I think all the pieces fall into place and they also get LeBron + 3rd star.

I think deep down LeBron wants to go to LA because of the weather and off-court advantages, but he won't go there unless he knows he can compete for a chip right away. George isn't enough, but Kawhi absolutely is. If they don't land Leonard, I see James going to Houston or maybe Philly instead.

If LeBron can bring the Lakers another championship or two, his legacy will skyrocket because he'll absorb all the Kobe fans who have hated him for the past 10 years. If he does that, they'll jump on his brand as the GOAT and he may be able to surpass Jordan's legacy.

In many ways, if James joins a new team to try and win a few more chips, they'll mean more in LA for his overall legacy and brand, plus he will have so many other opportunities.

Let's be honest, LA is an awesome city, and James wants to be there, but only if it's a super team.

I hope this happens - send Leonard to LA and let's see how the other chips fall.

Lebron will never Surpass Jordan ..

This will literally be the third super team he had to create .

He definitely has the knack of creating better teams than MJ.

[woosah]

Do you have a quote from the article (not the WT summation because that flat out says things that are not in the article) that says this? I don't have a dog in this no reason for me to finesse anything lol. I do see smoke from ESPN. As for offers from other teams, the reports i saw says they take the offers and they will consider later. They have not discussed anything with anyone, just gathering info from what i saw. Maybe you saw something different, so if you want to post those quotes too then cool.

The Spurs being open to trading with the Lakers came from Ramona Shelburne on ESPN 710. The WT is linking it to this article because Ramona participated in the ESPN article, and ironically also authored the "shut out" report. She's the LA front office mouthpiece, so I'm not sure what's going on here but I agree it's all smoke. I think a lot of teams are trying to force the Lakers' hand and LA is trying to control the narrative and justify its decisions.

Agree. I just think SAS is getting all the info they can. They are planning to try to repair the relationship with Kawhi. Meanwhile they are getting offers to see how they would proceed if they can't fix it and to counter the LA offer to try and get the best one. That doesn't fit a timeline of doing it by Friday. This is fluid but i don't think anything has changed since the last quote from after the draft. Just my read on it though.

[dorkestra]

Ingram, Kuzma, Deng, and Ball from LA for Kawhi
Ball and Deng to Phoenix for Bender and Dudley
Kawhi from Spurs for Ingram, Kuzma, Bender, Dudley

It's most likely going to be a 3 team trade. Maybe with the Knicks,Raptors,Bulls or Hawks?

I was thinking the role of the third team would be taking on Ball and Deng together - is that what you were also envisioning or a different package?

[dakomish23]

Do not take Deng back. Send him somewhere else.

[Spintown]

The Spurs never ruled any trade partners out in the first place, so this isn't anything new being reported.
There is just additional smoke now because it's obvious Lebron wants to go to the Lakers but not without at least one other good player on the roster.
Lebron is pressuring the Lakers to make it happen, but the Spurs aren't too excited about being pawns in the Lakers-Kawhi tampering saga, nor should they be. They will either get a massive haul -- Ingram, Kuzma, no Deng, additional picks, and probably a S&T Randle to match salary -- or they will keep Kawhi and offer him the supermax and trade him down the road to a different team if necessary.
Those are most likely the Lakers' choices. I can see Magic folding and giving up the farm once he realizes it's Kawhi & Lebron or neither and another season in the late lottery.

Give up what farm though? Ingram's injury prone and has shown no flash of being anything more than average in his career thus far (neg RPM, sub-15 PER). Kuz is one-dimensional trash putting up numbers on a bad Laker team(Clarkson and Nance Jr for example). They have no decent picks to speak of. And max contract Randle as a sweetener . That's not a farm, that's a death sentence for
the Spurs and only accelerates the process for the franchise to move out of SA. Might as well hold onto Kawhi until the supermax deadline in mid-October.

Seriously.

A Sixers deal with Saric, Covington, Zhaire Smith (who the Spurs were going to draft at 18, and who wore the 2 at TT in homage to Kawhi) and the MIA unrestricted 2021 pick blows that ish Lakers offer out of the water every day that ends in y.

Personally, I would not want to give up all of that, but simply from a standpoint of VALUE, the Lakers deals being thrown out there are STRAIGHT TRASH relative to the Sixers offer I just listed.

Aside from the 2021 pick ( and who knows how that turns out) that deal is Trash. Covington is older than Kawhi and Zhaire Smith and Saric are nothing special, Just role Players. Atleast Kuzma and Ingram have star potential.

[MadNESS]

I love how I keep reading that the Lakers don’t have a competitive package to offer

I can’t wait until the “real” offseason starts

[MaxRider]

I love how I keep reading that the Lakers don’t have a competitive package to offer

I can’t wait until the “real” offseason starts

others wont offer much knowing him will be gone after one year
actually they wont even know if he will be playing next year

[VanWest82]

Lebron will never Surpass Jordan ..

This will literally be the third super team he had to create .

I grew up watching Jordan and have been firmly on the 'MJ is the GOAT' bandwagon since his second retirement. The league has changed though. You can't judge Lebron for using free agency to his advantage. Not everyone gets drafted by a team that also drafts another top 30 player after you and surrounds you with effective, complimentary role players for the better part of a decade. Some franchises are really dumb, like the Cavs were for Lebron's first seven years (and arguably the last four as well).

Lebron can absolutely catch Jordan based on the totality of his career impact, and so I don't think he necessarily needs six rings to do it. These next 3-4 years will be important though. If he continues to dominate and wins 1-2 more rings over that span I think he'll be there. He's certainly already long since passed MJ in terms of basketball skill and ability though he had obvious advantages with the game getting so much smarter.

[Soupman]

How much does Deng's expiring have in trade value?